Matt Barkley
The Trojan football program is venturing down a road it has avoided for a very long time. Since 2002, USC has always followed up a loss with a string of victories to continue the Trojans unmatched success for the past seven years. However, USC has not suffered a loss of this magnitude in the Pete Carroll era. The 47-20 loss to Oregon was the first time the mighty Trojans got severely outplayed and out-coached in all phases of the game.
In the past, one could review the game and say the Trojans were just unlucky or if they played with a little more discipline they would have won. Not this time. If anything, the amount of injuries the Trojans suffered on the defensive side of the ball is a clear indication of how manhandled they were by the Oregon offense.
Saturday's game against Arizona State will provide great insight into the psyche of both the coaching staff and the players. Was the Oregon game just a set of unfortunate circumstances they can easily put behind them and continue Pete Carroll's perfect November record and put themselves in contention for a BCS bowl game? Will the Trojans fight though injury issues like they have in years past and put together a great performance or will the shaken confidence of a defense that has given up over 1500 yards of offense in 3 games lead to a debacle in Tempe?
Arizona State is not going to make it easy on the Trojans. They are led by the best defense in the Pac-10 and are fighting for Head Coach Dennis Erickson's job. This is also the second of back-to-back road games for the Trojans which are always tough.
However, this is a game the Trojans should win and be able to gain some confidence and swagger back on the defensive side of the ball. ASU has one of the worst offenses in the Pac-10 and doesn't possess a game-breaker close to the ability of Jacquizz Rogers, James Rogers or LaMichael James.
Keys to the game...
1-Trojans need to pass to set up the run: Cal Quarterback Kevin Riley threw for 351 yards last week in a narrow 23-21 victory over ASU. ASU does a great job of applying pressure and making it difficult to run with one of the best run defense's in the country. The Trojans should come out throwing the ball to send an early message to ASU's secondary which is susceptible to mid-range throws.
Once ASU's defense is worried about the pass, the Trojans should have success running the ball with McKnight and especially Bradford provided his knee is okay. Bradford fits the mold of Stanford tailback Toby Gerhart who ran for 125 yards against ASU.
More keys after the jump plus an injury update...
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USC's special teams deserve scrutiny too, Matt Barkley says the loss, ``kills him,'' and former commit Vontaze Burfict is making an impact at ASU....
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USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley hates losing and doesn't plan on doing it again at Arizona State....
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If you don't know Rick Reilly (he's kind of a big deal), he is the guy that used to write those one page columns on the last page of every Sports Illustrated. He is no longer with SI and is now at ESPN where he recently wrote a piece about Matt Barkley. You can click here to check it out.
Not your typical frosh [ESPN]
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While watching the Trojans lose control of a football game for the first time in the Pete Carroll era and reflecting on the last 9 quarters of football USC has played, the beginning of Buffalo Springfield’s song “For What It’s Worth” started playing in my head “There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear, there’s a man with a gun over there telling me I have go to beware…”
The Trojan nation will remember where they were Halloween night 2009 for many years to come after watching a true horror movie being played out in Auzten Stadium as Oregon dominated the Trojans 47-20 and literally beat them up as the Trojans suffered quite a few injuries on the defensive side of the ball. For the first time in his SC tenure, Coach Carroll seemed to doubt his own game plan of stopping Oregon’s run offense because of a few early completions to the Oregon slot receiver early and chaos ensued.
Oregon proved they are one of the best teams in the country and Head Coach Chip Kelly has done a masterful job of getting his team to rebound from an early loss against Boise State.
It is easy to beat up on the Trojans right now and quite frankly some of it is deserved. However, if they can pull it together they still have an easy shot at another top 10 season, a potential BCS at-large bow bid and the chance to carry quite a bit of momentum into next season with a very young team. Even faint hope remains for the Rose Bowl.
We will learn a lot about the Trojans from the coaching staff down in terms of how they rebound from this type of loss over the next few weeks. The invincibility factor of the SC jersey is no longer going to give them a mental edge in 2009.
After the jump is a quick analysis of the keys to the game from Friday's Skinny and an injury report
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(Photo by Icon Sports Media)
Nothing has been easy this season for the Trojans. It seems like every week they face another tough test on the road. This week it is the Oregon Ducks (6-1, 4-0) and their terrible uniforms. Saturday’s contest will be the fourth road game against a ranked opponent. Also increasing the degree of difficulty is the Trojans must play in Autzen stadium. Even though it only seats 54,000, it is one of the loudest stadiums in the country. And it’s Halloween, so fans will be extra lubricated and extra spooky.
To make matters worse, the past few years, the Pacific Northwest has not been friendly place to visit for the Trojans. USC has lost three straight years in the state of Oregon and we all can’t forget what happened to the Trojans when they traveled to Washington earlier this season. The weather conditions in Eugen should be dark, cold and gloomy. At kickoff the weather report is predicting 57 degrees with a 60% chance of precipitation.
So to recap, a ranked opponent playing their best football of the year, in a hostile environment, with a possibility for rain, in a high-stakes game, with tens of thousands of students dressed in costumes and extra inebriated, in a part of the of the country that the Trojans have not played well in recent years…. Does it scare you?
It shouldn’t. It should fire you up. Saturday night is the perfect opportunity to for the Trojans to come together and show the haters and doubters in the country that even though we have a freshman QB, a defense that has struggled the past two games against potent offenses and are banged up with injuries, when it comes time to strapping on the pads the Trojans always come to play in big games. How does Coach Carroll fare against ranked opponents? Pete has played 38 ranked opponents since 2001. USC is 34-4 in those games. Let’s make it 35-4.
More Thoughts of the Day and Halloween costume ideas after the jump (if you dare)…
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(Photo by Icon Sports Media)
Jeff Fellenzer, a professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, sat down with Matt Barkley for a very candid Q & A session. Here is a link to that interview and two excerpts
Fellenzer: Have you experienced any special moments when your older teammates really showed faith in you as a leader?
Barkley: At Ohio State, right before we got the ball back for that fourth-quarter drive, [linebacker] Chris Galippo and [safety] Taylor Mays each came up to me at different times, saying, 'We're gonna get the ball back for you. We believe in you.' That was confirmation for me right there, getting all the guys in the mind-set that it doesn't matter who we are or what age we are, hey, we can do this. But I'll remember those two guys coming up and saying that stuff. That was pretty cool.
Fellenzer: What stands out among the things you've learned so far from Pete Carroll?
Barkley: I love everything he says and I try to apply everything, and even try to echo him in interviews . . . just because they're the right things to say. [Laugh] We have three rules: 'Be early' -- it can apply to everything, to class, to outside settings, but especially for football. It shows respect. 'Don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses,' from Coach [John] Wooden. These all can apply off the field, too. 'Protect the team.' It's simple, but it goes a long way. Also 'protect the ball' is a huge part of the philosophy. It's made me change for the better, just being mindful that if we have control of the ball, obviously they don't . . . and they can't score. That's been a huge thing. Competing is another central theme of the program. I've always been a competitor, but just to hear that reinforced every day, and to have the defense hearing it, too, so they're competing right back . . . it's making me a better player. Being even-keeled, not underestimating your opponents, treating them the same every week. I love all that stuff he says.
There is no goal that USC's Matt Barkley won't pursue [LAT]
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Check out this very insightful Q&A with Matt Barkley, published this morning on LATimes.com. It's one of the most in-depth looks at the freshman quarterback you'll ever read....
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Barkley, 19, is living out his dream in becoming the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Trojans. "That is a goal of mine, to get to the point where I feel like I'm the best player in the country," he says. Matt Barkley made headlines Sept. 5 in a game against San Jose State at the...
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Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller The big one is in Eugene but every game matters. Three teams are chilling at home. 1. Matt Barkley thinks Autzen Stadium is going to be a barrel of monkeys: Matt Barkley told the LA Times that he's looks forward to playing in Autzen Stadium -- "the energy is going to be awesome and...
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Jeremy Bates talks about Matt Barkley's throwing motion and Mike Morgan remember his first career start last year against Oregon....
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Thoughts from Wednesday's practice, through the eyes of USCRipsIt...- In one of the most one-sided practices in recent history, the USC offense dominated from start to finish and in almost all phases, winning the final team period, 10-1, and pitching a shutout on Turnover Wednesday for the all-around practice victory. Besides not giving up the football all day, the...
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