USC hopes season gets off to a sunny start

College football teams do not have the luxury of exhibition games to work out the kinks and experiment with personnel, like NFL teams do.

USC comes close this season. The Trojans open Saturday night against Arkansas State at the Coliseum and then play Idaho next week.

Call USC an honorary member of the Sun Belt Conference, which operates at a level well below the major-college power leagues.

The real tests begin Sept. 19 in a Pac-12 Conference opener against Stanford and the next week at Arizona State.

So don’t expect any real answers about the Trojans through the first two weeks.

USC, a near four-touchdown favorite over Arkansas State, is not complaining about the schedule after another tumultuous lead-in to the season.

USC is ranked eighth in the Associated Press media poll and 10th in the coaches’ poll, but Coach Steve Sarkisian is trying to put a very public misstep behind. The Trojans also must adjust to a new play-caller in offensive coordinator Clay Helton and transition to having defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox in the coaches’ booth rather than on the field.

With its first full recruiting class since 2011 bolstering the roster, USC coaches have said that the Trojans would utilize more players and, in some cases, substitute in platoons.

“We’ve made some adjustments as a staff and, yeah, we’ve incorporated new players, but at the end of the day I think we’re really well prepared,” Sarkisian said. “So, for me, I’m just anticipating the whole thing coming together.”

Sarkisian’s every move will be dissected in the aftermath of his behavior at USC’s annual “Salute to Troy” event on Aug. 22. Sarkisian said he mixed alcohol with unspecified medication that night, and has said he would seek treatment to find out if he has a drinking problem.

Sarkisian announced last week that he would relinquish play-calling duties to Helton, a move he said had been in the works since spring practice. Helton was in the coaches’ booth during games in 2014, but he will be on the sideline this season.

Sarkisian acknowledged that it would be a challenge to not be in play-caller mode throughout the game.

“I’ll still be thinking that way,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever lose that. I’m always going to be thinking, ‘What’s Clay going to do?’ But I’m going to do my best not to butt in, especially on normal-down situations.”

Wilcox, who was on the sideline last season and during his two seasons at Washington, will call defenses with the view from above while position coaches handle substitutions for their groups on the field.

USC has not lost an opener at home since 1997, when fifth-ranked Florida State defeated the Trojans.

Arkansas State is coming off a 7-6 season under second-year Coach Blake Anderson. The Red Wolves were picked to win the Sun Belt in a preseason poll of league coaches.

“You can’t overlook a team like Arkansas State,” USC linebacker Su’a Cravens said. “They might not get the credit that they deserve just because of the conference they play in.”

USC is hoping for an opening performance similar to last season’s against Fresno State, when the Trojans started fast en route to a 52-13 victory.

“Our biggest thing is to get a rhythm early and keep that going all the way throughout the game,” quarterback Cody Kessler said.

Arkansas State is led by senior quarterback Fredi Knighten, a dual threat who helped the Red Wolves average a school-record 476.5 yards and 36.7 points last season

Anderson became Arkansas State’s coach after stints as offensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi and North Carolina. His offenses developed a reputation for executing trick plays.

“If you go into a game watching us and you don’t expect one, then you have not paid attention very well,” he said this week. “We will always go in with something up our sleeve.

“It’s just the nature of who we are.”

Appalachian State, now a Sun Belt member, was playing in the Football Championship Subdivision in 2007 when it defeated Michigan in one of the greatest upsets in college football history.

Anderson said his Arkansas State players “understand the opportunity” they have against the Trojans.

“They know who we’re playing,” he said. “They’re excited.”

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Twitter: @latimesklein