He should have spent some time on run defense...
You're not alone. Quite a few people were hammering them for "soft" practices and refusing correct their tackling issues with tougher, full contact practices. I'll occasionally listen to Dan Weber, a USC beat writer, on youtube. His facial expressions when he describes what's going on with the program are great - it's basically an "if only you knew how bad things really are" face, while he's trying not to completely lose his shit on the staff. He'll drop some priceless lines like "I heard so many USC fans talk about how well ND was coached - they're disciplined and physical. You think fans of opposing teams say that about USC? I don't think so."
USC had all the talent in the world with Pete Carroll but they were also tough and seemed to be a hard working team with a smart staff. Helton is soft, so is his team, and they get outcoached consistently.
Just take this game against ND. ND gambled that USC would turn the ball over or that they couldn't sustain drives so they played a three man front. They didn't turn the ball over but their staff was too dumb to actually run the ball with Stepp (10 carriess), despite the fact he looked like a bull out there. I'm convinced USC wins that game if they hand the ball off 20 plus times to Stepp - he would have ran for 200+ if ND stays in a three man front with safeties deep or they would have forced our safeties into the box and Slovis/receivers would have blown the top off. They were all "on" and their staff just shit themselves.
After USC scores the TD making it a 20 - 23 game, they had the momentum and if they got one stop or held ND to a field goal, all of our asses would have puckered up. Instead, ND just imposes their will on them, chews up half the quarter and hammers the ball into the end zone. It was really nice to see as a ND fan, but man would I be frustrated if I was a disgusting USC fan.