It was a subtle gesture. A nod of respect from USC to a football coach who spent a dozen years in the building before an unceremonious exit. But as the public address announcer took the rare step of reading Clay Helton’s name aloud, the frustration from his final few years at USC came pouring out in a chorus of boos from all corners of the Coliseum.
Turns out, even four years after his firing, Helton could still conjure complicated feelings among the Trojan faithful. What he couldn’t do Saturday is stop the Trojans from taking those feelings out on his football team in a 59-20 beatdown.