CLAY HELTON

Southern California dropped out of The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in more than two years and Oklahoma State vaulted into the rankings for the first time this year at No. 15.

Two-thirds of the way through Lincoln Riley’s second season at Southern California, the Trojans’ national title chances and Caleb Williams’ hopes of a Heisman Trophy repeat are all but gone.

Kliff Kingsbury is joining Lincoln Riley’s coaching staff at Southern California as a senior offensive analyst.

New Southern California coach Lincoln Riley watched the Trojans practice Tuesday, getting a look at his next team following his surprise departure from Oklahoma.

Urban Meyer says he will not be Notre Dame’s next head coach.

Southern California has hired Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley to be its next coach in a stunning and rare move of one traditional college football powerhouse swiping the another’s highly accomplished head coach.

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says he considers it a “joke” that his name has been linked to open college jobs at USC and LSU.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio says Jaguars coach Urban Meyer told him that in the NFL it seems like he faces powerhouse Alabama week in and week out.

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer says “there’s no chance” he takes the open job at Southern California.

Clay Helton’s players hate the fact their head coach’s firing was a cause for celebration for much of Southern California’s vast football fan base.

Southern California has fired football coach Clay Helton two games into his seventh season in charge.

The Associated Press preseason college football poll has been released and Alabama is No. 1.

USC reached the Oregon 49, but the Ducks' pass rush prevented Slovis from getting off a Hail Mary. Brown’s first throw for the Ducks was a TD pass to Redd on Oregon’s opening drive. USC earned its spot in the title game by going unbeaten with three late comeback victories along the way. Shough hit Johnson with a 16-yard TD pass in the second quarter before Stepp’s 1-yard TD run capped USC’s 80-yard drive in response. Brown hit Dye with a short TD pass to finish a drive that consumed half of the third quarter.

“I could be here all day talking about how different this is,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said on the Big Ten Network. As of late Wednesday afternoon, Alabama had signed five of them and was expected to land at least one more. Even with the coach's future still to be determined, day signing was OK for the Wolverines. On the positive side for the Wolverines on signing day: In-state running back Donovan Edwards, a four-star, signed with Michigan. Smith had indicated his final decision would come down to a choice between LSU, Alabama, Georgia and Miami.

20 USC beat Arizona 34-30 on Saturday. “A lot of teams would like to be in that position.”USC (2-0, 2-0 Pac-12) was outplayed by Arizona State last week before scoring two touchdowns in the final three minutes of a 28-27 victory. Another drive into the red zone, another trip without points. “That's the bottom line.”THE TAKEAWAYUSC played undisciplined at times and was disjointed at times on offense, particularly in the red zone. Against Arizona, the Trojans struggled with penalties and capitalizing in the red zone.

20 Southern California rallied from a late 13-point deficit for a 28-27 victory over Arizona State on Saturday in the Pac-12's long-delayed season opener. Bru McCoy caught a deflected 26-yard TD pass with 2:52 left for the Trojans (1-0), and Max Williams recovered the onside kick. USC's defense then stopped Arizona State (0-1) on downs near midfield with 50 seconds left to preserve an astonishing comeback for perpetually embattled coach Clay Helton's team. New Arizona State co-defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis also was on the verge of a resilient debut before the Trojans broke through. “I don’t think we were out of gas,” Arizona State safety Evan Fields said.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)The final major college football conference to begin its season gets going Saturday. The Pac-12 kicks off at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) with Arizona State at No. Instead of Pac-12 after dark it’s Pac-12 for lunch. The Hawkeyes will try to avoid that in this unique conference-only season at home against Michigan State. Arkansas State also had a marquee upset early in the season, beating Kansas State.

Minnesota is getting its star wide receiver back for an abbreviated Big Ten season. Minnesota announced Wednesday that Rashod Bateman was cleared to play this season by the NCAA and Big Ten after opting out in August. At Penn State, coach James Franklin closed the door on All-America linebacker Micah Parsons returning to the Nittany Lions. Both Bateman and Parsons opted out of the 2020 season before the Big Ten postponed amid concerns about the pandemic. Purdue All-America receiver Rondale Moore, who opted out early like Parsons and Bateman, was cleared to play for the Boilermakers last week.