USC football: Matt Barkley is getting it

October 14th, 2009, 4:45 pm · 17 Comments · posted by Michael Lev, staff writer

We all know freshman quarterback Matt Barkley is a savant when it comes to football. He wasn’t quite as adept at dealing with the media — a prerequisite for starting QBs at high-profile USC — but has made great strides in less than half a season.

Just two weeks after providing fodder for almost 70,000 Cal fans by knocking their noisiness, or lack thereof, compared to Ohio State, Barkley offered this in response to a question about whether it will be too loud to function at Notre Dame:

“No. I’ll leave it at that. One word.”

Well played, Matt. Well played.

Later, Barkley took a page from smooth-talking Mark Sanchez’s meet-the-press playbook and concluded the interview with a clever one-liner.

The discussion was about the 2005 “Bush Push” game, and Barkley said the play he remembered most was Matt Leinart’s ultra-clutch fourth-and-9 completion to Dwayne Jarrett. Barkley said he might have tried mimicking that play in the backyard. What about the Bush Push itself?

“No,” Barkley said. “(But) our running backs know what to do if we’re faced with that situation.”

More from the USC blog:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Categories

Greg says:

October 14, 2009 at 5:21 pm

He’s starting to get polished, on the field and off. Funny though, “No. I’ll leave it at that. One word” is actually 8 words. Levity aside, as long as his play is clutch, we have little to worry about.

I’m more concerned with Jeff Miller and the rest of Notre Douche’s moles in the sports media drumming up nonsensical stories about how the Domers think they can win this time. The evidence:

*Clausen wants bragging rights
*They think they can win
*Clausen has good numbers v. bad teams

Wow Jeff, what a foundation to base a story on. Like I said earlier, every lead-up week to USC/ND is the same. Instead of focusing on SC’s climb in the polls and back into NC contention, most sports commentator’s (Eric Casilias, Brian Bennet, Ivan Maisel, Jesse Palmer, Stan Verrett, and Jeff Miller) are behaving as if ND’s “belief” is the big story.

Contrast that to the analysis of the Alabama v. SC game, a good comparison, where the focus is where it should be - Alabama.

Like their institution, ND commands blind faith…from all quarters.

Jon says:

October 14, 2009 at 7:22 pm

Why would any reputable reporter ask 19 year old Barkley if it will be to loud to function at Notre Dame? How would he know? He’s never played there! Its all about writers trying to create “fodder”.

Also, like Barkely, I remember the 4th and nine Leinert pass to Jarrett more than the “Bush push”. Had Jarrett not caught that 61 yd pass there would have been no Bush push. That pass was dramatic!

OC30SY8OS32 says:

October 14, 2009 at 7:57 pm

Greg;
ESPN Eric Kuselias-NOT Casillas. With ALL due respect unless I missed something Eric Kuselias did NOT report the story the way you are telling yours. Simply put your story doesn’t jive, OK? By the same token it seems that ESPN is campaigning for Jimmy Clausen to win the Heisman.

On the other hand ESPN Mike&Mike Mike Golic(former ND DL) he’s on that belief trip. I was surprised when Lou Holtz went out of his way to explain USC having the best one loss record assuming USC beats ND and runs the table.

Marie says:

October 14, 2009 at 8:25 pm

Here is a great story that I’m sure all you Trojans fans will love. I know I did:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/33294342/ns/sports-college_football/

October 14, 2009 at 8:26 pm

Are the Trojans still overrated? You betcha.

Michael Lev, staff writer says:

October 14, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Jon:

The question obviously was asked in jest in light of Barkley’s inflammatory comments before the Cal game. Yes, we do do that sometimes, for entertainment purposes.

McLOVIN says:

October 14, 2009 at 10:05 pm

Glad to see Barkley learned some lessons from OSU and Cal. No need to give the crowd extra motivation, they will be plenty pumped up as it is.

Hope Spicer and Tupou are ready by Saturday. I heard that ND is feeling pretty confident in their ability to run the ball.

Eric Sornoso says:

October 14, 2009 at 10:45 pm

I can’t wait for Saturday. The Irish are a decent team, but I don’t expect them to give the Trojans a run for their money with Barkley as quarterback. He’s 4-0 as a freshmen and has two huge away victories against Ohio State and Cal. The Ohio St game was unbelievable.

Brian from B'ham says:

October 15, 2009 at 7:06 am

MB is only responding that way b/c he’s planning on letting his play talk for him. It’s “Business as Usual” for him. No need to go back and forth with funny quotes or jokes about the crowd noise. I like that!! Notre Dame is in trouble..

October 15, 2009 at 10:44 am

Both teams are in trouble. Neither will be invited to THE championship game in January.

October 15, 2009 at 11:17 am

I think this game will be closer than we would like to see. ND is pulling out all of the stops and has a little more swagger than they have in the past. As long as we stay patient and do our thing, we will be fine. We can’t have any turnovers (especially early in the game) and give them any confidence.

I am a little concerned about some of the hurt guys on our D line. Is Armstead going to be a little rusty? Casey needs to have a huge game and Griffen needs to show up big.

I hope Manti Te’o gets blasted by Ausberry or McCoy at least once during the game. I will be looking for that. The nerve of turning down wearing #55 for USC!

October 15, 2009 at 1:35 pm

McLovin. We are going to be fine.. We will beat the ND by at least two touchdowns. Of course they are going to come out with plenty of energy, it’s their home stadium and they are 4-1. However, once the Defense settle in and sack Clausen a few times, those cheers will turn into frowns. Clausens’ jersey is going to look like he has on those ugly green uniforms. Then, the Offense will kick in with Joe left, Bradford right. MB to D-Will, MB to Rojo. Havelli up the middle, Joe around end, CJ touchdwon off of a sweep. Bates is going to open up that play book. It’s going to be one heck of a game. Go Trojans…

js202 says:

October 15, 2009 at 1:38 pm

McLOVIN,

It appears this is a rare occasion upon which we slightly disagree, my friend.

To me, this Saturday’s game is mostly about studying the history of the PC/Weis college match-up. With the exception of October 15, 2005, Pear Bryant hasn’t fared so well. Basically got his backside handed to him, in fact.

And as for the new, vaunted Irish passing attack, helmed by Clausen? To date, the kid has earned *zero* touchdowns against a Pete Carroll defense. He may squeek out a score or two on Saturday, but I honestly don’t believe there’s enough of a drop-off in this Trojan defense, nor an improvement in the Domer’s O, to place this game in real jeopardy for the Trojans.

Look for Pete to stay much of the time with the nickel package with McAllister, maximizing the Trojans’ talent and speed in the defensive backfield. Expect Mays to be a rover, intimidating and inflicting pain and damage upon guys like Clausen and Tate. Also, expect Chris Galippo to step up, and have a big game. Oh, and our O will be fine, too. ;)

At the end of the day, though, I believe it comes down to this: Pete’s got Pear’s number.

October 15, 2009 at 2:08 pm

OC30SY8OS32,

We can mince words and split hairs with distinctions without a difference. The essence of my opinion, based with considerable fact, is that there exists, especially among sports commentator’s some inexplicable loyalty and/or bias towards ND. Fans on this blog, are exactly that, fans. Paid commentators are purportedly “professionals” and I don’t see anything professional about their media driven obsession with ND. It surely isn’t the Domers performance.

Just today, Bill Connelly (I think that’s the spelling) published another article about what it will take for ND to win. It’s always the same, what ND needs to do and how this will be huge for Weis, etc. An objective person may ask why there is so much focus on the minor player in this instead of SC, who are the lead story - at least if facts matter. Sc has the dominant record in recent years, SC is within striking distance to a possible NC game. It’s as if Mike Tyson were to box Glass Joe, and the media rushing to analyze, support, and legitimize Glass Joe.

It’s something about ND that I’ve explained more descriptively in other threads, that just isn’t duplicated elswhere. When SC played OSU, the hype was pretty much down the middle with a slight edge to OSU because of the “revenge factor” sprinkled with ESPN’s tradiotnal eatern bias. But with ND, it’s almost bizarre.

We need these folks

October 15, 2009 at 2:10 pm

…to stop drinking the Pope’s Kool-Aid!!

larry says:

October 15, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Anybody want to make a bet that Marie is actually a guy posing as a chick?

October 15, 2009 at 3:09 pm

Brian and js202,

You both make good points. I am usually not such a worry wart, but I admit I have an inflated amount of respect for ND. Gramps went there and Grandma and I used to drink (a) beer and watch the games whenever I visited. I grew up rooting for them in high school and remember going crazy when Rocket was making those insane kickoff and punt returns. He was the orginal Reggie Bush. You’ll hear me get worried about UCLA later in the year too… I always fear ND and UCLA more than they deserve because the rivalry is so great. Every team has us circled on their calender, but especially those two.

But nothing would make me happier than to shut up all those fans on Saturday, and in front of all of the recruits that will be there like Dietrich Riley, Seantrel Henderson, and Shaw. PC always gets us ready for the big games and we seem pretty loose this week. I say we take them 27-20. I hope it’s not that close though!

Orange County Register