With all the bluster that goes on leading into a game it's easy to forget that one of a coach's most important jobs is to lead his team and to build up within them the faith that they can beat anybody. Sometimes that can look like disrespect, but most of the time the coach on the other side of the field has more respect for his opponent than you might know.
That's exactly the case with USC coach Clay Helton, who has been very energetic about his team's chances Saturday night against the Tide, but admitted Wednesday that he has a tremendous amount of respect for the Alabama program. As a former Auburn backup quarterback from the early nineties, Helton knows Alabama football, he's see the success first hand.
"I tell you had the unique fortune to be a part of that Auburn-Alabama game and see that first-hand," Helton said. "That's one of the greatest rivalries in the country. I have so much respect for not only both universities, but that game. Then you've got to have respect for the Alabama program, especially what it's recently done.
"You look at this recent surge of what they've done with national championships under Coach [Nick] Saban. As a football coach, you just respect the heck out of it. You're playing the defending national champ and the No. 1 team in the country with one of the all-time greatest coaches in the history of our game. So, it is a special game for you."
Helton seems like a real class act. Hopefully he will have the best of luck every week after facing the Tide.
