Clay Helton talks about USC’s football deficiencies

The last time USC experienced a loss worse than Saturday’s 52-6 thrashing by Alabama was in 1966.

Notre Dame beat John McKay’s Trojans, 51-0. He told the players in the locker room to “take a shower, if you need one.”

McKay was also widely quoted vowing that “Notre Dame will never beat us again.”

USC Coach Clay Helton did not make any vows during his teleconference Monday. Instead, he shifted the focus to the rest of the season.

“We understood that win or lose this game, it was not our ultimate goal to win one game,” Helton said. “It’s our goal to be a Pac-12 champion. And being a Pac-12 champion opens up several other things for you.”

For USC, Pac-12 play won’t begin until a week from Saturday. First, it must go through Utah State, a team that sees weaknesses to exploit in USC.

USC has issues on defense, which yielded six touchdowns and plenty of explosive plays Saturday. But Helton spent much of Monday’s teleconference addressing deficiencies on the offense.

Helton’s biggest concern is the toothlessness of the offensive line.

When Utah State’s players met with reporters Monday, one player, defensive end Rick Ali’ifua, did not seem particularly intimidated.

“I definitely feel that we have an opportunity to go in there and win,” Ali’ifua said. “Obviously, we always feel that way against any team, but seeing it first-hand I feel that there are some areas we can possibly expose against their offense.”

His confidence might have come from watching USC’s line wilt against Alabama. A unit picked by some analysts to be the best in the nation, allowed three sacks and rushed 30 times for only 64 yards — and 46 of those came on one long Ronald Jones scamper.

When Pro Football Focus graded USC’s run game, it found only one positive run block, by any player, in the entire first half.

Helton said Alabama physically dominated USC but also was able to confuse USC by disguising its pressure and movement.

“There were both physical beats and assignment busts on the offensive line that we have to address immediately and get corrected.”

No mojo for JuJu

The running game’s ineffectiveness had a trickle-down effect.

It helped cause the disappearance of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Helton said. Smith-Schuster, considered one of the best receivers in the nation, caught one pass for nine yards against Alabama.

Helton said USC springs Smith-Schuster by running the ball. Failing to do so, he said, frees the defense to “play a lot of two-high coverage and double up on JuJu.”

Utah State Coach Matt Wells said he was concerned about Smith-Schuster once he has the ball in his hands.

“He’s almost like a running back after the catch,” Wells said.

That means Utah State will likely try the same strategy against Smith-Schuster, and dare USC to run.

History shows consecutive down games for Smith-Schuster are rare. Only one other time has he caught only one pass in a game — and that was the second game of his career.

“That’s just the way it is sometimes,” Smith-Schuster said Saturday. “We’ve all just got to go back to work and get better.”

Darnold appears

Backup quarterback Sam Darnold made a surprising appearance early in Saturday’s third quarter, with the game still, though just barely, in reach. But that doesn’t signal that the quarterback race has reopened, Helton said.

Helton explained that the coaching staff had discussed such a move in advance.

“We kind of made a commitment to ourself as a staff to put him in a situation where we could see him against that No. 1 defense,” Helton said.

Darnold later came in during the fourth quarter and played a total of 18 snaps, connecting on four of eight passes.

Alabama hires Sarkisian

USC’s previous two full-time head coaches are set to unite — in Alabama.

Steve Sarkisian, fired last year by USC for erratic behavior and other alcohol-related behavior, will join Alabama as an analyst, the team announced.

Sarkisian can observe practices, watch film and offer advice, but NCAA limits on staff size prohibit him from coaching on the field.

“We talked about it, really, quite a while ago,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban said. “I told him that we’d love to have him as a part of the organization. He’s going through some personal things to get himself in a very positive position and wants to continue to do those things in the future.”

Former USC coach Lane Kiffin is already on Alabama’s staff as the offensive coordinator and helped orchestrate Saturday’s thrashing.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Twitter: @zhelfand

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