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USC football: Carroll-Barkley “battling”
November 20th, 2009, 11:36 am · 20 Comments · posted by SCOTT M. REID, OCREGISTER.COM
An otherwise upbeat bye-week for USC limped to a close Friday morning.
Joe McKnight fumbled a punt. Cornerback Josh Pinkard channeled Stanford’s Richard Sherman and ran back an interception of a Matt Barkley pass for a touchdown.
There are still a few pot holes on the Trojans’ road to recovery.
The interception wasn’t the only mistake for Barkley. In a practice that mirrored his recent game performances, the freshman out of Mater Dei High School overthrew several receivers, threw behind others and was nearly picked a second time later in the practice.
Trojan coach Pete Carroll, however, insisted after practice that Barkley hasn’t hit a wall.
“I think he’s just battling, he went against the first defense the whole time,” Carroll said. “I think he’s working really hard to get stuff done. I don’t think anything more than that.”
More from USC blog:
- USC football: Carroll-Barkley “battling”
- USC football: Cameron’s time could be coming
- USC football: Run defense finally gets physical
- USC football: McKnight returns to practice
- USC football: What Bates said about Colorado
- USC football: Still hope for the BCS?
- USC football: Is Stanford best of the Pac?
- USC football: The bowl poll
- USC football: Digging deeper into Barkley’s flaws
- USC football: How Barkley can get better
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Uh-oh. Someone on another board said that MB7 could be PC’s Ron Powlus. No one can argue that PC has shown that he is a stubborn, stubborn coach resistant to change, perhaps to our detriment.
In MB7’s defense, I would throw some bad picks at 6am too!
Once again Pete is denying what is right in front of him. MB is going in the wrong direction and needs to be relieved of the pressure he is under. Put him down to second team and play MM or AC or even Green, SC is done for this year. If the kid is ever going to be a quality QB (which I don’t know if he will ever adjust playing under high pressure defences) he needs to take it slow. PC’s ego just wont except the fact he is not ready or maybe he made a mistake and never will be ready. I will say this if MB get’s hurt playing out a loosing season then what will Mr ego do. It’s just like in pre season practice having full contact on AC. Ask yourself would any NFL coach put his leader in jeopardy using the lame excuse of they need to get the feel of being hit. Personally I think PC got what he wanted AC got hurt so he could bring in MB.
MB as QB, currently-
Offense: As a true freshman, he has and will make mistakes. Unlike his predecessors, he doesn’t have the benefit of watching a “veteran” (yes, I am dismissing Corp). Despite recent events, he is performing well overall. He will continue to get better, sometimes not with stats but with experience, maturity, and learning from mistakes. Unless he implodes (and we are forced to go to MM), he needs to stay in.
Perception (politics): Whether or not starting MB over Corp then MM was the right decision is debatable. Unless MB implodes it would be wise to defer to PC. That said, PC is in a very precarious situation should he replace MB with MM and the result be success. Can we imagine the backlash on PC?
Defense and the big picture: It is surprising how much debate and discussion MB and offense is generating when one considers how terribly the defense has played. We may want to remember that MB and the offense kept SC competitive at Autzen well into the 3rd Q and vs. Stanford well into the 4th Q. It was the defense that didn’t pull their weight, all things considered. Even with MB’s mistakes, the games were win-able or close if the defense didn’t resemble warm butter.
Thanks,
Greg
Wow, MB really can do no wrong whatsoever.
Pete will keep playing MB. He will never put in Mustain because if he excels, he won’t be able to face the music. MB warranted to be taken out of the Stanford game with plenty of time left and give Mustain-even Corp-a chance to show what they can do. Alas, Pete kept MB in there for as long as possible to protect his own ego. Pete’s priority right now seems to be to protect his own ego at any costs, even at the expense of the team.
Our offense isn’t what it used to be. There is no denying that.
However it wasn’t our Offense that gave up 55 points on Saturday. You can measure a defense not only in points per game, but look at other statistics, yardage, time of possession, how many punts did force, 3-& outs?
Our defense has stunk the place up for quite a few weeks. Absolutely no in-game or halftime adjustments on D.
Hopefully SC will play better on the 28th. I’d rather give up 55 to Stanford than lose to UCLA.
Marie if you comment we all want to know who your rag tag college team is, we will all just ignore you.
If the defense cannot stop or slow down the other team, then the offense must be very high potent, in other words, we will just have to outscore them to win. I simply don’t see “off the charts” Barkley in that scenario. He has clearly regressed and that is because he is a freshman and in uncharted waters. It was a mistake to put Barkley in that situation. He was not ready for it.
Something is definitely wrong with Pete if he cannot realize the mistake and make a correction. Put someone else in there and let Barkley have a break and relieve some of the pressure on the poor kid.
I’m beginning to believe that there already exists a growing resentment among members of the team towards Pete Carroll, for him putting MB in this otherwordly untouchable pedestal where he is absolved of any accountability.
Is MB that fragile that he has to be coddled and and made to believe that he’s not a tad bit accountable for USC’s poor play?
Pete Carroll keeps banging his drum about “competition” for every position but he has made it clear that it does not exist on certain positions (QB and even RB). The rest of the players definitely sees that going on and though they won’t admit it openly, it cannot possibly sit well with them.
@Sam
I agree with pretty much everything in your post. The double standard is so blatant that only those with blinders on and those who deify Pete Carrol doesn’t see it.
Pete spared no punches denigrating Aaron Corp for his poor play, but so quick to absolve Matt Barkley of any accountability. If Matt Barkley plays poorly, it’s those around him who has failed him.
Potential! When used to descibe an athlete it’s because he or she isn’t doing so well. IMO MB will go down in USC history as the QB with the greatest potential that never amounted to anything. This will be a long 3 years… The biggest problem now will be recruitin a QB! What 5 star wants to backup Mr. Potential for the next three years? MB won’t leave for the league after his junior year. Who would draft an interception machine? Here’s to 3 loss seasons as far as the eye can see. Good luck Pete…
Just a thought. If Barkley throws for 500 yards and 5 touchdowns against Arizona, what will your board comments be then? Why all of a sudden do you believe that Carroll can no longer coach or recruit and Barkley is a bust. For Pete’s sake, (no pun intended), Barkleys a true freshman (granted he’s not as talented as Tate Forcier by comparision this far in his career) but you’ve got to allow him a chance to develop. Remember the old saying (every old QB does), “The QB gets to much credit when things are going good, and to much abuse when things are going bad”.
You are not a dumb as poeple say you are when you lose and you are not as smart as people say you are when you win
You would think it would be a priveledge to play against the 1st string defense considering they’re so awful
Ever notice that Marie only comments M-F must do it on somebody else’s dime, maybe a politician.
Excellent obeservation, pkcourt! That way there can be some meaningful discussion on this site. I’m sure the troll will be back in business bright and early tomorrow morning!
What a joke. TROJAN FANS are DELUSIONAL. Barkley should not be playing.
A couple of weeks ago the Bengals head coach was interviewed and stated that Carson Palmer is a much better QB after sitting out last year. Even though it was because of the injury, he was able to observe the game from another perspective.
Unfortunately, Pete’s DELUSIONAL like all of the Trojan Nation who believes Bark is the answer. Pete is so full of himself, he can’t even see that Bark needs to sit and see from the sidelines or booth what he can’t see when he’s on the field.
Even when your Golden Child QB continues to struggle in practice, your head coach (soon to be 7-5) praises him. I bet if Bark drops the soap, PC is there to pick it up for him. Get real Trojans…Put Mustain or Corp in! Chow is salivating for next weekend! He’s going to rip Pete a new one, then Stoops will steamroll your D for 60+ points.
Worst EVER…a recurring theme!
FIGHT GONE!!!
shouldn’t Maria be particpating in a “die in” at Ucla right about now?
Marie, er Mario you are such a stupid SC hater no one takes you seriously.
Why don’t you make some more of your classless jokes about injured SC players? You’re real good on that subject.
You are a loser who hates SC and obsesses about it on SC boards. Take your despair about the current status of the Bruin football and basketball teams to other boards.