USC Football Mailbag: Why So Many Wasted Timeouts?

Why do the Trojans take so many early timeouts? Were does the USC offense go from here?…Our weekly USC football mailbag seeks the answers.

Welcome to the Reign of Troy mailbag. This mailbag is a weekly feature, where we will answer your questions related to USC football.

If you have a question for the mailbag, send it in to @ReignOfTroy on Twitter or via email to reignoftroy@fansided.com.

Let’s get started:

Timeouts. Why do we keep wasting them so early? Thats going to kill us in close games.— @scubasteve

A combination of things. First, Clay Helton is very new to being a head coach and as such does not know how to manage a clock like a veteran coach yet. He also seems to not like to take penalties, so he would rather take a timeout than lose five yards for a delay of game.

Second, USC is not very organized offensively, which is shown by the fact that Helton was rumored to have taken over play-calling duties at times during the first two games, and as such does not look at the clock but is instead buried in his play sheet.

Third, and this may be the worst point, Helton does not seem to mind burning timeouts, because he calls them sometimes when there is no reason to call them.

That all points to the the conclusion that Helton at this time is not a very good game manager.

Why is it that the SC twitteratti feel the need to be so negative?— Greg Thatcher @GatodelGato

Fans, as former athletic director Pat Haden noted, like you 30 seconds at a time.

But mostly, the reason people are negative is that for the past four years USC has been mediocre and has shown no signs of becoming a power again.

Since Helton became permanent head coach, USC has not beaten a major team and has shown no signs of making adjustments during games. This is a cause for concern.

After seeing the offense through 2 games, how do you think it’s going to go against Stanford?— Jash @The_Jash

No clue.

Through two games, USC has not shown an identity, and the offensive line has not been anywhere near where it was projected to be.

Two ejections in two games also shows a lack of discipline. All we really know now is what we knew last year — USC has talent on the offensive side, but it is not utilizing it fully.

LISTEN: USC vs. Utah State Recap

I would not write off the offense yet, but I have seen nothing that makes me confident in USC being able to put up points against Stanford because they are very much like Alabama.

Why does the O-line still not seem in sync with the QB?— Alex Mietchen @mietchen11

This is a question which no one, not even Helton, seems able to answer.

READ MORE: Grading USC’s Offense vs. Utah State

While losing Toa Lobendahn hurts quite a bit, the line doesn’t seem to be playing downhill and getting push, and keep in mind that they worked through fall camp with two QB”s and are still using two in certain situations.

If the line doesn’t improve, USC may not be bowl eligible at season’s end.