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Clay Helton’s firing a negative for the Notre Dame football program

By Brad Weiss

Oct 12, 2019; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly and USC Trojans head coach Clay Helton talk with referee Michael Mothershed after both teams were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after as the first half ended at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 12, 2019; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly and USC Trojans head coach Clay Helton talk with referee Michael Mothershed after both teams were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after as the first half ended at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Notre Dame football team takes on USC after their bye week, but a familiar foe will not be on the sidelines for the Trojans in the 2021 matchup.

When Clay Helton was named the interim head coach at USC during the 2015 college football season, he had a tall task ahead of him. In a few days, he would have to take on the Notre Dame football team, a top-25 opponent who was a big-time rival of the USC football program.

On October 17, 2015, the Irish would beat the Trojans by the score of 41-31, as DeShone Kizer threw for two touchdowns, and C.J. Prosise rushed for two more. It was a solid game from start to finish, but in the end, Notre Dame football came away with the victory, something that would become a common theme with Helton as the head coach of the Trojans.

After losing to Stanford this past week, the USC Trojans showed Helton the door, firing him after seven years as an assistant or interim head coach, and then five-plus years as the permanent head coach.

Notre Dame football has owned USC under Helton

During his career as the head coach at USC, Helton took on the Notre Dame football team five times, and his Trojans were throttled by the Irish on most occasions. In fact, Helton has only led the Trojans to one win against the Notre Dame football program, and that was all the way back in 2016, his first full season on the job.

That year, Helton went into the game as the No. 12-ranked team in the country, while the Irish were unranked. The 2016 Irish team was a major disappointment, finishing at 4-8 overall, their last losing season under Brian Kelly, as the Irish have won at least ten games a season in every year since.

Helton and the Trojans struggled big-time this season, and the USC game would likely have been a big victory for the Irish inside Notre Dame Stadium. The Trojans will now turn their program over to Donte Williams on an interim basis, the same role Helton overtook years ago.

As Helton moves on, Irish fans will certainly miss him on the sidelines.

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