Ok USC fans....Barkley it is...your thoughts?

[fballplaya]

Is Corps knee/leg the main reason for going with Barkley?

Barkel has been "stellar" but not "spectacular" during fall camp....isthat fair to say too?

I und he has 10 returning starters around him, so that has got to be huge from a cofidence standpoint for him...but does Petey hold anything back in the playbook?

What affect does this have on the game versus Ohio St? 105,000+ people on the road and at night for your first road college start....eek...

I am curious to hear from Trojan-nation...

 

[LSUpete]

He is truly a gifted QB, arm-strength-wise and mentally. Slow feet, though. He's also a stud; very strong. He could throw a full-size football 50 yards in the air at age 11. However, I am very uncomfortable with a true Freshman starting. My guess is that USC's O-line and RBs are good enough to be able to win most games on the ground, but Barkley will try to force things when the going gets tough on the road and will cost his team a few games. USC goes 10-2 or 9-3 this year; probably 2nd place in the PAC-10.

Pete hates to lose, so he must see something in Matt that gives him confidence in Barkley. Some have suggested that Pete sees Barkely as the future and is willing to sacrifice this year to give him experince. I don't buy that for a second. Pete wants to win every game and with a team as loaded as this year's team, he must believe that Barkley can do it. they will keep the game plan simple, conservative and will probably focus on running the ball more than before. The O-Line is the best in Carroll's 9 years and the RBs are so deep it's ridiculous. Can USC win them all? Sure, but I just don't think a true Freshman can do it.

 

[SantaBarbaraTrojan]

He is truly a gifted QB, arm-strength-wise and mentally. Slow feet, though. He's also a stud; very strong. He could throw a full-size football 50 yards in the air at age 11. However, I am very uncomfortable with a true Freshman starting. My guess is that USC's O-line and RBs are good enough to be able to win most games on the ground, but Barkley will try to force things when the going gets tough on the road and will cost his team a few games. USC goes 10-2 or 9-3 this year; probably 2nd place in the PAC-10.

Pete hates to lose, so he must see something in Matt that gives him confidence in Barkley. Some have suggested that Pete sees Barkely as the future and is willing to sacrifice this year to give him experince. I don't buy that for a second. Pete wants to win every game and with a team as loaded as this year's team, he must believe that Barkley can do it. they will keep the game plan simple, conservative and will probably focus on running the ball more than before. The O-Line is the best in Carroll's 9 years and the RBs are so deep it's ridiculous. Can USC win them all? Sure, but I just don't think a true Freshman can do it.

If you read or listen to the media, they will tell you that Corp is 100% ready to go, if you listen the the people close to the program who truly know Aaron Corp, they will tell you that he isn't yet 100% as far as his running speed is concerned.

Regardless, PC's announcing Barkley as the starter yesterday for the SJS game and beyond, surprised many who follow the team, myself included.

I agree with most of what you said in your post LSUpete, but the "slow feet" isn't really accurate from what I have seen of Barkley while attending some of the spring and fall camp practices, as well as never having heard the subject being discussed around the program.

Will Barkley make mistakes that will cost them a game or two?

I'll say this first, Barkley is throwing more picks in practice than most want to see him throw, but he is playing against one of the best, if not the best secondaries in the country every day at practice that know the plays that will be run. The USC was the #1 pass D last year and they should be a better unit this year with virtually everyone returning, plus last years freshmen redshirts.

With that said, I can only hope that the mistakes dont happen in the games, but with 4 road trips in 6 weeks to OSU, Washington, Cal, Notre Dame and another trip to Oregon Oct.31, I'm not sure as to his ability to put it off without a loss. The two games that concern me the most are @Cal and @Oregon, as both teams have excellent defensive secondaries (esp. Cal's) along with very good DL nine play.

 

[Delta00]

I doubt if anyone has seen as much as I have of Barkley @ SC, and frankly I'm stoked. He is just an amazing player, and has every throw mastered, it's incredible to watch as a true freshman. His mental game has grown rapidly, and he is a big play waiting to happen. I'm stoked of our opportunities coming up and still think we are a very very good team

 

[fballplaya]

If USC indeed has all of this talent...how do some people (a lot really) think this Trojan team is or may lose 2 or 3 games?

I have seen several Ohio St practices, I have watched the Spring game over and over...and I gotta tell you, although talented (by Big Ten standards) they don't have the horses to beat USC. I have someone on ESPN radio (McShay or Kiper or even Herbie) say that Oklahoma isn't worried about replacing what they have to relace because the replacements are BETTER then the guy they are taking over for....a lo of people feel that way about USC also...

Granted Ohio St loses Lauranitis. That is a huge loss. He was a playmaker. Losing Freeman, however is not a big loss. Sabino or Spitler, whoever starts there IMO will be better then Freeman. Maybe not in Week 1, but before the season is out both will be better. Jenkins is a big loss too. Moreso because of reputation and leadership. Ohio St has a couple of guys poised to take over for him, just not a proven player yet. Again, the d-line is talented....athletic and big...BUT they are still the same d-line who got whooped by the likes of Ohio and Troy and couldn't touch Colt McCoy to save their lives...

The offensive line outside of Justin Boren (who hasn't played since '07) is big and soft. Brewster is a nice player at center and I am sure will eventually be a star. Browning only really suffered last season against Orakpo and Maybin, but they moved him inside to guard to compensate for those deficiecies. Up the middle they should be fine. ON the edges is a major league concern.

Oh yeah...they don't any ESTABLISHED WR's. They are talented at the position, but not experienced. At least not exoerienced enough to deal with USC's secondary.

 

[SantaBarbaraTrojan]

If USC indeed has all of this talent...how do some people (a lot really) think this Trojan team is or may lose 2 or 3 games?

I have seen several Ohio St practices, I have watched the Spring game over and over...and I gotta tell you, although talented (by Big Ten standards) they don't have the horses to beat USC. I have someone on ESPN radio (McShay or Kiper or even Herbie) say that Oklahoma isn't worried about replacing what they have to relace because the replacements are BETTER then the guy they are taking over for....a lo of people feel that way about USC also...

Granted Ohio St loses Lauranitis. That is a huge loss. He was a playmaker. Losing Freeman, however is not a big loss. Sabino or Spitler, whoever starts there IMO will be better then Freeman. Maybe not in Week 1, but before the season is out both will be better. Jenkins is a big loss too. Moreso because of reputation and leadership. Ohio St has a couple of guys poised to take over for him, just not a proven player yet. Again, the d-line is talented....athletic and big...BUT they are still the same d-line who got whooped by the likes of Ohio and Troy and couldn't touch Colt McCoy to save their lives...

The offensive line outside of Justin Boren (who hasn't played since '07) is big and soft. Brewster is a nice player at center and I am sure will eventually be a star. Browning only really suffered last season against Orakpo and Maybin, but they moved him inside to guard to compensate for those deficiecies. Up the middle they should be fine. ON the edges is a major league concern.

Oh yeah...they don't any ESTABLISHED WR's. They are talented at the position, but not experienced. At least not exoerienced enough to deal with USC's secondary.

Fballplaya, most of us SC guys really aren't to concerned with Ohio State or Notre Dame for that matter, they don't match up very well with the Trojans.

As you noted, the OSU O Tackles are not that good or fast and when you have a QB who likes to run and get to the edge, that isn't a good combination. USC's DE speed will eat these guys alive and deny Pryor a big part of his game on Sept. 12.

I see SC beating these guys by 13+.

The USC DL is going to be very, very good this year and while everyone is talking about the QB situation, no one cares, or even understands what is going on with the DL right now, but they will find out soon enough.

Cal and Oregon match up much better with SC and those two games are going to be the toughest this year. If the Trojans beat Cal, it will most likely be due to poor play from their QB (Riley), that is their most glaring weakness that I see right now.

 

[18677]

I've been to couple of USC practices and if competition mattered at all at USC, Corp should be starting against SJSU. Barkley will be a good college QB but he has been making too many mistakes in scrimmages. If you look at his stats as a senior at Mater Dei, his numbers were average at best. 55% completion rate with 24 TD and 18 INT. His numbers were off the chart before that but MD's roster was filled with future D1 players. And in his senior year, most of them graduated. But MD reloads every year..similar to USC so it does concern me that Barkley might be starting against Ohio St.

I really hope that it was Corp's injury that promoted Pete starting Barkley and he'll be back by the second game.

 

[UoweDucks]

Just one question that I've asked that no-one can answer, if happened it must have been a loooong time ago.

Name the last true freshmen qb to guide his team to a P10 championship?

 

[SantaBarbaraTrojan]

I've been to couple of USC practices and if competition mattered at all at USC, Corp should be starting against SJSU. Barkley will be a good college QB but he has been making too many mistakes in scrimmages. If you look at his stats as a senior at Mater Dei, his numbers were average at best. 55% completion rate with 24 TD and 18 INT. His numbers were off the chart before that but MD's roster was filled with future D1 players. And in his senior year, most of them graduated. But MD reloads every year..similar to USC so it does concern me that Barkley might be starting against Ohio St.

I really hope that it was Corp's injury that promoted Pete starting Barkley and he'll be back by the second game.

I share your concerns with Barkley 100%.

 

[Delta00]

I've been to couple of USC practices and if competition mattered at all at USC, Corp should be starting against SJSU. Barkley will be a good college QB but he has been making too many mistakes in scrimmages. If you look at his stats as a senior at Mater Dei, his numbers were average at best. 55% completion rate with 24 TD and 18 INT. His numbers were off the chart before that but MD's roster was filled with future D1 players. And in his senior year, most of them graduated. But MD reloads every year..similar to USC so it does concern me that Barkley might be starting against Ohio St.

I really hope that it was Corp's injury that promoted Pete starting Barkley and he'll be back by the second game.

This is only evident that competition does matter. Corp HAD the starting job but lost it in fall practice when he wasn't competing due to injury, now when he comes back one week before the opener, he doesn't have all the tools he had when he won the starting job originally

 

[Delta00]

Just one question that I've asked that no-one can answer, if happened it must have been a loooong time ago.

Name the last true freshmen qb to guide his team to a P10 championship?

Name the last true freshman qb with the pedigree of Matt Barkley

 

[bigtendominator]

The only concern one should have for Barkley is the noise at Ohio Stadium. I will have never been in an atmosphere like that. That could be vital, but if he is as poised and as good as most say, he should have no problem with the crowd.

 

[UoweDucks]

Name the last true freshman qb with the pedigree of Matt Barkley

What do you mean by this question? There are many instances of highly touted qb's who were forced into action early and failed to live up to the high expectations placed on them.

 

[Conan]

I don't know if pedigree is the right word.

But he has a LOT of reputation to live up to if USC is going to win the conference. They say he's been looking like a QB with more experience than he has, but we'll see what happens when he is put into real game situations. I am not going to predict anything either way because even with his reputation, he would still have to break new ground that's never been done before. He may be great, we'll see, but predicting anything that far reaching is foolish.

But one thing he has going for himself is the rest of USC's roster including an awesome OL, and that ain't bad.

 

[18677]

Barkley is all hype right now. He could turnout to be another Mark Sanchez or another Kyle Wright. He has all the talent in the world around him, so he'll have an easier transition time than most QBs.

 

[Conan]

I've been thinking, yes it's all hype so far. His HS accomplishments precede him and he's done nothing at the college level at all. The hype can't get much better than that.

But I wouldn't be totally surprised to see him lead USC all the way to the promised land this year because he's in the right place for that to happen -- however their schedule says it won't. Or, maybe there's some sort of synchronicity in the works because he has probably the best OL in the country in front of him... who knows? It just sounds like a fairy tale.

 

[SantaBarbaraTrojan]

What do you mean by this question? There are many instances of highly touted qb's who were forced into action early and failed to live up to the high expectations placed on them.

You're right Uowe and you keep harping on this subject, but you do have a good point, no one has been able to start as a true freshman QB and win the conference. But that's not to say a true freshman QB couldn't have done it. For a team to be good enough to win, they have to have talent and depth in all positions and that usually includes their QB's. With that in mind, there could have been players in the past good enough to pull it off, but they weren't good enough to beat out their team mate(s) to be named the starter, and/or the rest team wasn't good enough to win the conference to begin with.

If you think about it, Barkley does step into a unique situation at SC, as this squad is talented enough, deep enough and experienced enough (QB excluded) to win. Granted, I think we both will agree it won't be easy getting past your Ducks and Cal , but if there is a team that could do it, USC has the OL , WR's, RB's and defense in place to carry a true frosh QB and pull it off.

John Wayne couldn't cut it on the SC football team and look how he ended up! Just think what could happen to Matt Barkley if he "get's it done" and then decides to be a movie star....:lol:

 

[UoweDucks]

You're right Uowe and you keep harping on this subject, but you do have a good point, no one has been able to start as a true freshman QB and win the conference. But that's not to say a true freshman QB couldn't have done it. For a team to be good enough to win, they have to have talent and depth in all positions and that usually includes their QB's. With that in mind, there could have been players in the past good enough to pull it off, but they weren't good enough to beat out their team mate(s) to be named the starter, and/or the rest team wasn't good enough to win the conference to begin with.

If you think about it, Barkley does step into a unique situation at SC, as this squad is talented enough, deep enough and experienced enough (QB excluded) to win. Granted, I think we both will agree it won't be easy getting past your Ducks and Cal , but if there is a team that could do it, USC has the OL , WR's, RB's and defense in place to carry a true frosh QB and pull it off.

John Wayne couldn't cut it on the SC football team and look how he ended up! Just think what could happen to Matt Barkley if he "get's it done" and then decides to be a movie star....:lol:

Well of course. You make an excellent point, perhaps that is why people are even entertaining the suggestion. You put a true FR qb on any other team in the country and expectations immediately get lowered...

Indeed, it would be an amazing feet, but I remain steadfast that if he is relied upon to be the man all year long that USC will not win the conference. All it takes is one poorly thrown ball in the wrong circumstance. There are two serious contenders to USC this year and both have favorable schedules to the Trojans.

 

[Conan]

I'm just wondering if any of the teams involved in the Pac-10 race can get to Barkley. I'm not sure. Maybe there's a weakness somewhere in USC's protection???

Personally, I give Oregon a better chance than Cal to take out the Trojans because the USC defense has not seen the likes of an offense like Oregon's and at Autzen there will be noise, tons of it. There's no telling how USC's defense may react to getting beaten off the line. Oregon St. did it to them last season just by being quicker, hitting harder and wanting it more.

I don't think there's an offense in the Pac-10 that can pull that off this season other than the Ducks. Cal may be too one-dimensional with Best toting too much of the load if Kevin Riley is less than effective. Everyone else either starts a rookie QB/first time starter or they have issues like Cal may yet still have. It will be interesting to see how USC's defense handles Jake Locker but I doubt UW has anything more going for themselves that's in USC's class.

 

[SantaBarbaraTrojan]

I'm just wondering if any of the teams involved in the Pac-10 race can get to Barkley. I'm not sure. Maybe there's a weakness somewhere in USC's protection???

Personally, I give Oregon a better chance than Cal to take out the Trojans because the USC defense has not seen the likes of an offense like Oregon's and at Autzen there will be noise, tons of it. There's no telling how USC's defense may react to getting beaten off the line. Oregon St. did it to them last season just by being quicker, hitting harder and wanting it more.

I don't think there's an offense in the Pac-10 that can pull that off this season other than the Ducks. Cal may be too one-dimensional with Best toting too much of the load if Kevin Riley is less than effective. Everyone else either starts a rookie QB/first time starter or they have issues like Cal may yet still have. It will be interesting to see how USC's defense handles Jake Locker but I doubt UW has anything more going for themselves that's in USC's class.

One thing that will be in USC's favor is they will have already played @ Ohio State, which should give them some of the same match up problems they will face @Autezn Oct. 31.

Both games are on the road in very loud stadiums, both opponents have very good athletic mobile quarterbacks, with Pryor being the better runner (slightly) and Masoli having the better arm. In years past, mobile QB's have given the Trojans fits, but SC seems to have figured out how to contain this threat. Last year's and this year's SC DE's and OLB's are very fast, big, deep and talented, with this years group being faster than last years front 7. I'll be watching to see how the Trojans contain Pryor, as they could use that game as a blue print to contain Masoli. The one difference the Trojans will face between the teams however is, Masoli has the option of handing off to Blount, who is far better than any RB OSU has, so this will be interesting. I do think the match up against OSU's and Oregon's OL, and SC DL will play a large part in who wins the game and I like USC's chances with this battle.

Both UO and OSU have good but not spectacular WR's that will go up against the SC secondary (the best position group on the team) that will play a lot of man to man coverage, which in turn will help control the LOS and the mobile QB's.