Clay Helton Bowl will see many USC fans hoping to see Trojans send a message

There is a lot of excitement and anticipation from USC fans for the opening game against Missouri State. The first matchup of the year signals the official return of Trojan football, and 2025 in particular has a lot of questions that many are eager to soon have answers to.

That being said, September 6 is of particular focus for the USC faithful. Georgia Southern will come to the Coliseum on that day. Leading the charge for the Eagles is an all-too familiar name: coach Clay Helton.

It is always an interesting dynamic when a former coach faces the program that once employed them. Considering how his USC tenure went, that becomes even more so the case for the Trojans' second game of the year.

Early non-conference games can sometimes end up being a trap in which the underdog enters the home stadium and then shows up a team in front of their fans. That cannot happen under any circumstances.

Setting aside the fact that USC has a good shot of actually putting together a decent season, the thought of coach Helton now stringing together a winning performance in the Coliseum with a Sun Belt team is completely unbearable to even consider any further.

For most Trojan fans, they will hope to see Georgia Southern get stomped by about four or five touchdowns.

Past sore spot for USC fans to look at

It's not that coach Helton's record when he was at USC was all that bad. The program had hit a clear plateau. And unlike what is being seen now, there was little hope of his being able to make the necessary changes and maneuvers to instill confidence in a brighter future in Troy.

Now at Georgia Southern since 2022, coach Helton is coming off a winning season and is looking to continue to build on that momentum. Unfortunately for him and any Eagles fans, those victories will have to be accumulated at a different time, just not on September 6.