USC football’s ranking to start and finish each season under Clay Helton

Where has USC football started and ended each season in the AP poll under Clay Helton?

USC football started 2020 ranked No. 17 in the AP poll, but they won’t be ranked much longer.

It’s not that the Trojans will lose their spot on merit. The AP simply won’t be including teams who aren’t playing in the fall going forward. USC falls under that banner.

So we know where USC was set to being their 2020 journey in the polls. But we won’t find out how they might have finished.

Looking back, however, we can examine exactly how that journey played out in year’s past.

Clay Helton’s starts and finished with USC football in the AP Poll

Clay Helton’s tenure as USC football head coach has been far from smooth. The Trojans have been up, they’ve been down, they’ve been all around.

The numbers show strong starts and finishes for the Trojans…just never in the same season.

Concerningly, USC has been kept out of the final rankings in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999 and 2000. The trend is not going in the direction the Trojans need.

2016 AP Poll

• Preseason: #20
• Final: #3 ↑
• Average: #12

2017 AP Poll

• Preseason: #4
• Final: #12 ↓
• Average: #11

2018 AP Poll

• Preseason: #15
• Final: NR ↓
• Average: #18

2019 AP Poll

• Preseason: NR
• Final: NR ↓
• Average: #23

But how far back does that trend stretch? It’s common knowledge Pete Carroll’s Trojans were a juggernaut in the polls from 2002 to 2009. Carroll finished in the Top 5 seven seasons in a row, falling to No. 22 in his final season with the Trojans.

Since 2010, USC’s poll performances have been steadily disappointing.

USC football’s AP poll starts and finishes under Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian

2010 AP Poll

• Preseason: #14
• Final: NR ↓
• Average: #19

2011 AP Poll

• Preseason: #25
• Final: #6 ↑
• Average: #16

2012 AP Poll

• Preseason: #1
• Final: NR ↓
• Average: #11

2013 AP Poll

• Preseason: #24
• Final: #19 ↑
• Average: #23

2014 AP Poll

• Preseason: #15
• Final: #20 ↓
• Average: #18

2015 AP Poll

• Preseason: #8
• Final: NR ↓
• Average: #15

Between 2010 and 2015, USC made 53 appearances in the AP poll, averaging 8.8 appearances per season. From 2016 to 2019, the Trojans appeared in the poll 7.5 times per year. That runs counter to the stretch from 2002 through 2009 when they were included nearly every week, 16.3 appearances per season.

The numbers from 2010 to 2015 reveal the Helton era is really just an extension of Kiffin and Sarkisian’s time with the Trojans. None have produced consistently good enough seasons.

USC hasn’t averaged a Top 10 ranking across a single season since 2008.

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It’s not enough to blame one head coach for those outputs. The Trojans haven’t done what’s necessary from top to bottom to sustain winning runs. Having said that, Helton is the one in power now. It’s on him, and athletic director Mike Bohn and the entirety of the Trojan football program, to produce different results. Or make way for someone who can.