USC football mailbag: Why has the Trojans’ trajectory stalled?

Happy rivalry week, readers.
Do you feel the excitement?
When USC faces UCLA on Saturday at the Rose Bowl, it will commence one of the more underwhelming crosstown clashes in recent history. Not since their meeting in 2010 have both teams been unranked, and the combined 13 losses between the Trojans (5-5) and the Bruins (2-8) before kickoff are the most in the 88-year history of the rivalry.
Most of the subplots this week continue to revolve around Clay Helton and his future at as USC’s fo