Helium Boys Podcast: USC draws Alamo Bowl, rating transfer losses and reviving dead bowl games

Peristyle Podcast - USC Trojan Football Discussion

Ryan Abraham - USCFootball,com publisher

Sports, Basketball, Football

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 178 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shotgun Spratling and Chris Trevino return behind the microphones for another episode of the Helium Boys Podcast, a serious non-serious USC football podcast. The Helium Boys are back to look at a wide array of college football, and USC-specific, topics after the announcement of the College Football Playoff participants and bowl game destinations as well as significant roster changes incoming for the Trojans following National Signing Day and the first wave of players announcing their intentions to enter the NCAA transfer portal The episode opens with the Helium Boys staple 'Two-Minute Drill' that features Shotgun and Chris both railing on Notre Dame and its insolent decision to not participate in the Pop Tarts Bowl after being left out of the College Football Playoff. After the wild rants on the intolerable disrespect shown to one of our college football national treasures, the podcasters dive into 'Stock Up, Stock Down,' which they use as a jumping off point to discuss a variety of college football topics, including USC finishing with the No. 1 recruiting class in the 2026 recruiting cycle, the evolution of the college football bowl system and some familiar faces the Trojans have/will see. They also take an early look at the matchup between USC and TCU, who will meet in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 30. After a break, the podcasters dive into some superlatives for the Trojans' No. 1-ranked 2026 recruiting class, including their picks for a Day 1 starter and favorite recruit as well as who will transform their body the most and who will be a star when it's all said and done. Chris and Shotgun follow with a dive into the players exiting the program, breaking down the future impact of the 11 players that have made it known they plan to enter the NCAA transfer portal when it opens on Jan. 2. The podcast duo also answer your mailbag questions discussing basketball collapses, opt outs and Notre Dame scheduling. After some 'Take It or Leave It' questions for Shotgun, the episode concludes with Chris making Shotgun choose which bowl games to revive and which to keep dead. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Healing Boys podcast, a serious, non-serious U.S.C. podcast.
0:18.5	I am your host this week, Chris Trevino, joined by the one, the only
0:23.6	shotgun spratling. Unfortunately, we are not live. It's not going on in this moment. As you know,
0:31.3	if you listen last week, we did our very first Helium Boys live podcast on YouTube going into National Signing Day.
0:40.2	How are you feeling, shotgun, coming off our first live appearance?
0:43.4	Does this feel dull to you? Do you feel hollow right now doing a non-live show?
0:48.3	Chris, normally I would. I feel like I would be, you know, just the energy wouldn't be quite the same.
0:53.3	But I have some anger in my
0:55.0	blood right now because there's been a lawn care maintenance specialist that is, you know, just
1:03.3	decided that leaf blowing is a very pertinent thing on December 8th in New Jersey when there's no
1:09.9	leaves for almost an hour.
1:12.8	And I think they may be done right now, but knowing that you guys may hear a leaf blower just
1:18.9	pop up out of nowhere, just maybe stand beside my window in an attempt to to blow some more
1:25.0	leaves that are all dead and not actually out there.
1:27.9	But, you know, the neighbors apparently needed some lawn care work.
1:31.3	I'm going to be honest.
1:32.1	I'm a little worried about shotgun because I hear literally nothing.
1:35.5	I've heard literally nothing.
1:37.2	When I signed on, he was like, oh, I'm sorry about the noise.
1:40.4	And there's literally nothing.
1:41.6	It's the quietest it's ever been on his side. So I'm a little
1:45.3	worried something's going on with shotgun's brain. But if you hear something, you know, let him know
	...

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