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USC Football: 3 takeaways from worrisome win over Fresno State

By Dante Pryor

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 31: Isaiah Pola-Mao #21 of the USC Trojans celebrates his interception with Talanoa Hufanga #15 and Devon Williams #2 during a 31-23 win over the Fresno State Bulldogs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 31, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 31: Isaiah Pola-Mao #21 of the USC Trojans celebrates his interception with Talanoa Hufanga #15 and Devon Williams #2 during a 31-23 win over the Fresno State Bulldogs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 31, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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USC football won Saturday night’s game against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Here are three takeaways from the Trojans’ worrisome win.

Do you feel that? Clay Helton’s seat is getting hotter by the second and you can almost feel it just by typing his name. The USC coach is in an uncomfortable position after beating Fresno State 31-23 in Los Angeles.

Why as the seat gotten hotter after a win? Because the Trojans didn’t look great outside of the first two drives and regressed as the game progressed.

What did we learn from USC’s Week 1 struggle?

3. USC’s offense without JT Daniels may struggle

Sophomore quarterback JT Daniels was looking comfortable in offensive coordinator Graham Harrell’s air-raid offense. He was of 25-for-34 for 215 yards before going down with a knee injury. He was replaced with true freshman Kedon Slovis, and they didn’t let him throw much.

This couldn’t be any worse for the Trojans and head coach Clay Helton.

The Trojans still have a lot of pieces on offense, but just how much of the playbook will Slovis have memorized? What does Harrell have in the playbook to take the pressure off of a true freshman quarterback.

The biggest question the Trojans have is, “How serious is JT’s knee injury?”

If he is out for the season, Helton might not make it to the end. If he’s out for an extended period of time, Helton might not make it through the season. This was supposed to be the bounce-back after an up-and-down season last year and it’s really hard to have so many questions after a victory, but the Trojans do.

There were some questions about their defense by virtue of being part of a team that runs a version of the air-raid, but now they are going to have to carry the Trojans even more.

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