USC believes its season can be salvaged but only if it defeats Arizona State

Clay Helton cued up a slide during USC’s first team meeting this week that was simple and to the point.

He showed his players the Pac-12 Conference standings. At the top of the South division was USC.

It was Helton’s signal that USC must move on from a 49-14 loss to Notre Dame that has hung over the program like a dark cloud since Saturday. It was his attempt to show that USC’s season can be salvaged.

“We’ve still got the Pac-12 in our sights,” left tackle Toa Lobendahn said. “And that’s our main thing, to go out there and win a Pac-12 championship, something that hasn’t been done in basically 10 years. So we’ve still got our sights on that, we’re still upbeat about that.”

The loss to Notre Dame and the stunning gap between the two teams made Saturday’s game against surging Arizona State a must-win in multiple regards. A loss would be nearly fatal in the Pac-12 South division race. The loser would need to win its final three games and the winner to lose at least two.

And because of the Trojans’ preseason expectations and inconsistent play, USC (6-2, 4-1 in the Pac-12) has to win to save its season from being considered a dud.

Defeating Arizona State (4-3, 3-1) first requires recovering from the humbling loss a week ago. Cornerback Jack Jones compared the game to a “punch in the face.” USC should “wipe it off and keep going,” he said. “If you sit back and dwell on that you’re not gonna ever win the next game.”

Helton was encouraged by what he saw in the postgame locker room. Immediately, he said, team leaders were trying to rally teammates, already talking about a Pac-12 championship.

“I thought they were in a good frame of mind,” Helton said. “They understood that we did not play very well that night.”

More concerning than morale, though, was USC’s lack of improvement, particularly in the trenches. Arizona State coach Todd Graham said that’s what would decide the game. And, he said, “That’s where we’re playing our best football right now, is on offensive and defensive line.”

Arizona State has given up just 3.6 yards per rush in consecutive stunning upsets over Washington and Utah. After an atrocious (1.3 yards per carry) rushing performance against Washington, the Sun Devils dominated Utah for 4.5 yards per carry and 205 rushing yards total.

USC, meanwhile, has been damaged by injuries to its defensive front seven and offensive line, which both were manhandled by Notre Dame and have been uneven for much of the season.

Hints of displeasure emanated from Heritage Hall on Friday. Athletic director Lynn Swann does not comment publicly about the team often, but he expressed some frustration in his monthly “State of Troy” post on USC’s athletic department website. He called Saturday’s game “a bad loss.”

“It was not a close game and we did not play well,” Swann said. “Notre Dame has improved this year and is playing much more consistently. We did our share to make them look really good.”

He noted USC’s injuries — linebacker Christian Rector and cornerback Iman Marshall will become the 12th and 13th starters to miss a game with an injury this season — but said, “We do not want to make the injuries an excuse. This is where the depth of a team comes into play, and that takes time to build, and that’s where we are. When you have injuries and players unavailable, and you don’t have depth quite like you need it, it shows up in a game like this. When you make mistakes, it amplifies it.”

Quarterback Sam Darnold said the coaches could do only so much. The players, he said, deserved their own criticism.

“Honestly sometimes I feel like it’s the players making the mistakes,” Darnold said. “It’s not — coach Helton does his things. He’s really consistent in his game plans and so are all of our coaches. Players need to play better. And we’re taking that upon ourselves and trying to do that every single practice and every game from here out.”

Some players said they would take a lesson from last season, when USC began 1-3 but recovered to win its final nine games. But last season had a different dynamic. By its final loss, to Utah, USC had an ascendant new quarterback and was showing significant improvement.

Did this season feel the same?

Safety Chris Hawkins conceded it didn’t. He paused, then added, “Ask me the same question after we win on Saturday.”

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter @zhelfand