USC

Students look forward to first home game since Stanford blowout

USC students look forward to Saturday’s Oregon State University game under the leadership of interim Head Coach Donte Williams, looking to bounce back from the recent defeat at home.

A photo of a full student section at a USC football game.

(Photo by Yannick Peterhans)

By Grace Harmon

Many USC students are excited for this weekend’s home game against Oregon State University following last Saturday’s 45-14 away game win over Washington State. Trojan fans have seen an eventful start to the 2021 season that includes a substantial loss against Stanford on Sept. 11 and the firing of Head Coach Clay Helton two days later.

Not all Trojan fans held favorable opinions of Helton, which has led to some animosity from USC crowds. Nearly the entire student section yelled “fire Helton” throughout the last home game.

Despite the crowd’s negativity, there are some who still hold positive opinions of him.

“I personally always liked coach Helton,” said Maxwell Lee, a data science graduate student and the former athletic director of the Trojan Knights student organization. “I thought he did a good job getting USC to where it needed to be [so] I’m not necessarily excited for him to be gone. I’m a little bit excited for the negativity and hearing guys chant ‘fire Helton’ … to be gone, but not necessarily that Clay is gone.”

Donte Williams, who was formerly the Trojans’ associate head coach, took over as the interim head coach last week when Helton was removed. Williams is one of the best college football recruiters in the nation and was previously the Trojans’ cornerbacks coach and defensive pass game coordinator.

Fans are also excited about a budding quarterback star in freshman Jaxson Dart. He threw four touchdowns during last week’s game but suffered a knee injury.

“Jaxson is a cool player [and] he seemed like he electrified the offense, so it will be interesting to see what he can do,” said Adnan Alouane, a freshman studying computer science and computer engineering. “I can’t wait for the next game. I think we should beat [OSU], hopefully.”

The extent of Dart’s injury has not been commented on by coach Williams, and it’s currently unknown whether he will play in the OSU game.

“I’m really excited. The quarterback situation is interesting,” Lee said. “I just think the energy with the new coach looked really good [last weekend]. Donte did a good job getting the energy of the team up and I’m hoping that will continue this Saturday at the Coliseum and be a really fun atmosphere to be in.”

While the Trojans lost their last home game, many students look forward to the coming game to see the Williams-led team in action.

“This last Saturday was such a big win for the team, especially with the new coach,” said junior sociology major Michael Cazares. “I think it kind of pumped the team up just having such a big win and it being an away game so I’m excited for this game, it should be a good one.”

Saturday’s game will mark the first time that the Trojans have played OSU since 2018, when USC won 38-21.