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ROSE BOWL GAME: USC VS PENN STATE

January 2, 2017

Pasadena, California

USC - 52, Penn State - 49

THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, welcome to USC's postgame press conference. We're joined by head coach Clay Helton, Sam Darnold, Michael Hutchings, and Matt Boermeester. We'll open up the floor with an opening comment from Coach Helton and we'll have questions. Coach, tell us about the game.

CLAY HELTON: Oh, what a terrific football game. We're so worthy of a Rose Bowl. I think about this group of coaches and kids and what they've been able to accomplish over a season, and to put a stamp on it right here in The Granddaddy of Them All, it's been an absolutely great week.

We thank the Rose Bowl for, one, giving us the opportunity to be here, and then credit to these kids and to these coaches. They did a tremendous job today.

Penn State, my hat is off to them. What a class organization. Coach Franklin, what he's accomplished with his group over the entire season and then today, it was just two really, really good football teams playing at the highest level and competing until the absolute very end. These kids that I've had the honor to coach, they are the definition of fight on. Whether it was a season or this game, this game kind of just signified what our whole season has been, about never quit, keep competing, and good things will happen to you if you do. With that, we'll take any questions that you have.

Q. Coach, you lost two of your best defensive players and you end up playing a little bit better. How did that happen, Coach?
CLAY HELTON: I think, one, I think when the time was right and we had to have a stop, we entrusted them to get it done. And what a big stop they made when we had to punt the ball with a little bit of 3 minutes and some change on the clock with three timeouts, just asking them to cowboy up one last time, and they did. They get a stop. We get in the two-minute drive. Offensively they've done it all year. They've been really good at situational football, and they go down and we score. Then Leon McQuay, what can you say? A senior leader, makes a huge play for us. One of the biggest plays of the season. And then credit to Matt, when the time was right, he came through in the biggest moments and that's what great players do.

Q. I wanted to ask a question of Matt and a question of Sam. Matt, for you, your coach played to give you a relatively long field goal. Were you hoping you guys were going to try to get it a little closer or were you okay with that distance?
MATT BOERMEESTER: I wasn't concerned about the distance. I knew I was going to get an opportunity to kick that field goal, so wherever it was at, I was kicking it. That's what my thoughts were.

Q. Follow up with Sam. On the last touchdown pass, you had an underneath route wide open. You threw it to a guy who was significantly less wide open. Can you just take us through that play and the throw to put it right on the money?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, is that the touchdown to Deontay?

Q. Yeah.
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, so what Tay's actually supposed to do is keep a straight line, not necessarily run a post like that. But just the player that he is, he made a play, and I saw him. So I'm happy I threw it to him and not the shallow. So, yeah, we'll just leave it at that.

Q. Coach, after the start to the season you all had, how did you keep everybody together? How did you keep it focused on that you could finish this strong?
CLAY HELTON: Well, I think one, you've got to believe in the people that are around you, and one of the things I saw as we went from Alabama to Stanford, I saw improvement. I saw improvement from Stanford to Utah. I saw the improvement and I truly believe in this group of men that I'm surrounded by. They're professionals. Whether it's the coaches or the players, and the passion that they play with, and the competitive nature that they have, you just knew if they kept competing like they would and eliminate the mistakes, I kept telling them by November, you're going to be really, really happy. And then all of a sudden, we get a little confidence, we get some wins, we get some great defensive play in the second half, great offensive play, and a quarterback that's just on fire, and it kind of snowballs. Just very fortunate. A leader is only as good as the men that surround him, and I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by these men.

Q. Matt, that was definitely not a chip shot for the game-winning field goal. You're kicking for the entire season. What was going through your mind as you were waiting for the snap?
MATT BOERMEESTER: My process is always the same. Stay true to my technique. It doesn't really make a difference how far it is, the ball still has to go straight. So just keep the same mindset, same swing. Game was on the line, but you've got to keep true to your technique and trust it.

Q. Coach, the way your season started this year, tell us what this win means to your program?
CLAY HELTON: I'm just very happy for a group of seniors that I've had the good fortune to be with for four and five years. To have the opportunity to be seven years at USC and watch these guys grow up, to watch them mature. I think of a guy like Mike Hutchings who is our senior captain, and the roller coaster ride that he's been on and our seniors have been on, and they just kept on fighting. Now they guided us to a Rose Bowl, and they've guided us to not only a Rose Bowl, but a Victory Bell and a Shillelagh. Some special, special memories throughout the year. So I really think about the group of leaders we have as our seniors.

Q. Mike, Penn State in the middle of the game, seven straight touchdowns, but you guys got two stops there at the end of the game which really gave your team a chance to win. Talk about the mindset, what was going on in that huddle out there before those final two stops?
MICHAEL HUTCHINGS: I mean, those two stops kind of came down to everything that led up to this game, that led up to those two moments going back when you start in the winter in the spring, in the summer. And guys were playing for pride at that point. The score was close, but we knew we still had a chance, and there was a lot of time left. We just took it snap by snap and we were playing for pride. It became apparent each play guys were coming in clutch. The guys up front were making plays.

I think just Coach Helton just saying give me one after every play, just give me one. All we tried to do was give them a chance, and that's what we did.

Q. In the third and fourth quarter, did this feel like a home game with that crowd?
CLAY HELTON: I tell you what, I credit both sides. The energy in that stadium was so electric, and the play by both teams, it felt like a tennis match. Just going back and forth, and back and forth, and the mood swings and the emotion. Credit both teams. We got up early, and there is Penn State coming back, and they do what they do always, it seems like, in the second half. They come out really, really fast. And our guys just dug down and said, you know what? We're not going to get down. Let's just keep playing, keep playing. You look up and those last two series, I have to credit the Trojan Nation, because it was loud. It was really loud. Hopefully it affected them a little bit.

Q. Matt, your father was a great kicker at UCLA and you went to USC and now you've basically helped them win the Rose Bowl. What do you think your father's going to say tonight?
MATT BOERMEESTER: I already saw him. I think he's a little bit in shock. He did play here. He didn't play in the Rose Bowl. He played at the Coliseum. He did play at UCLA.

As far as seeing him right after the game, I could tell he had been crying, so I know how he's feeling. It hasn't really hit me yet. I'm just happy I got the opportunity to do so.

Q. Have you folks been involved in a game like this where it was like a basketball game? It was an amazing game, I'm sure for you guys watching it and being a part of it and for the fans. Can you talk about that?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, I mean, just to talk about the fans really quick. When we were over in Penn State's area as an offense, we could barely get a snap off. Those guys were loud as heck, and our fans were too. But, yeah, I mean, that was a back-and-forth game, and you expect that with a team like Penn State. We came out victorious, but Penn State's a really great team, and I just want to credit it to the seniors. What they've been through and to come out Rose Bowl champions in the end of it is really what means the most.

Q. Coach Helton, can you talk a little bit about Sam's development this year and kind of the culmination tonight of an amazing first season as a starter?
CLAY HELTON: Yeah, what ultimate game maturity this young man has as a red-shirt freshman. I love the quiet confidence about him. You never saw his demeanor change tonight. Whether he was throwing a touchdown or whether we got stopped on offense, you just never saw his demeanor change. He was so glued in and so focused at the task at hand. It was just so fun as a coach tonight to watch so many great players on the field perform.

I think about Sam, I think about Barkley, I think about Burnett, both sides, Trace, both sides of the ball were just the greatest players shined brightest on the biggest stage, and both teams had it. Whether it was our quarterback, whether it was their quarterback or several skilled athletes, it was an amazing game. It's what fairy tales are made of.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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