USC football ranked No. 4 in preseason Associated Press poll

LOS ANGELES >> USC coach Clay Helton on Saturday expressed no concerns about his team’s position in any preseason polls.

“As I’ve continuously told our team, it’s about worrying about this first game and starting fast,” Helton said. “It’s not about where you start, it’s about where you finish.”

He remains closely familiar with the old axiom.

In 2015, the Trojans began the season ranked eighth in the Associated Press preseason poll. Then came disarray. Helton, the offensive coordinator, was promoted as the interim coach following Steve Sarkisian’s midseason firing. They finished with an 8-6 overall record and were out of the top-25.

Last fall, in Helton’s first full season as the permanent head coach, USC was No. 20 in the first AP poll, then unranked after a 1-3 start. Yet, it recovered. Nine consecutive victories, capped by a dramatic Rose Bowl win over Penn State, pushed the Trojans to a No. 3 ranking in the final AP poll. It was the highest finish ever for a three-loss team.

USC, coming off its strong finish from 2016 and bolstered by the return of star quarterback Sam Darnold, will enter this season in a top position. On Monday, the team was picked fourth in the AP’s preseason top-25 poll, one spot ahead of defending national champion Clemson.

The Trojans received two first-place votes.

National runner-up Alabama was atop the poll, followed by Ohio State at No. 2 and Florida State at No. 3.

For USC, it was also ranked fourth in the coaches poll released earlier this month. Helton is one of the voters in the poll, but declined to say where he picked the Trojans.

Neither of the polls is used to select the participants for the College Football Playoff. The selection committee starts to unveil its rankings late in the season, starting on Oct. 31. The top four teams make the playoff.

USC opens its season against Western Michigan on Sept. 2.

“To build your resume, it starts with game one,” Helton said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked going into that game. It’s about how you effectively play and being more worried about performing a gameplan and worried about our assignments, fundamentals, techniques, than worried about what we’re ranked or what people think about us. When we were really good and finished the season last year, we just worried about our opponent and nothing else, and that’s the mentality we’re taking into this season.”

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The last time USC began the season in the top five of the AP poll was in 2012, when it was ranked No. 1.

Preseason rankings remain little indicator for future success.

Under Lane Kiffin, the Trojans ended at 7-6, becoming the first preseason No. 1 overall team since Ole Miss in 1964 to finish unranked. Helton was then the team’s quarterbacks coach.

Along with USC, there were three other Pac-12 teams ranked in the first AP poll released Monday, including Washington at No. 8, Stanford at No. 14 and Washington State at No. 24.

UCLA, listed among others receiving votes, received nine.