Safe Start

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When asked about the interception returned for a touchdown last night, Lane Kiffin said he was concerned about falling behind early at Oregon State with that type of play and is why he was extremely conservative on the first couple series with short passes.
That raises the question of why in his 23rd college start, Matt Barkley needed a close-to-the-vest game plan at the outset? The interception answered the question.
Can you imagine Stanford needing something similar for Andrew Luck?

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  • thekatman

    Barkley has not played to his potential this year. Something is miss with him, emotionally.

  • scottneedstolearnfootball

    Scott:
    Just another gem from the king of piling on just like all the football boys did to you in high school. You fail to mention that Luck is a red-shirt soph with 3 years in the same system. Barkley is not God like Pete wanted to anoint him, but he is one of the top soph QB’s in the country. Scott what do you think you would rate in the country in hack sports writers? We already know your the worst at rating teams. Go back to your full time job of creeping out all the college girls with your stares.

  • I DIg Go Go Girls

    Did anyone ever watch this guy at Mater Dei? He does the same damn thing now as he did when he was in high school, force the ball, never look his receiver off, nothing. He hasn’t learned, he hasn’t improved and he still plays, why?

  • Trojan Conquest

    IDGGG……….agreed. Again, he was one of these kids we all knew who matured early and became the “chosen one”.

  • DFWTrojan

    I hope Matt heals quickly, but this goes back to Uncle Pete and Jeremy Bates starting MB7 as a true frosh. He should have redshirted and learned from the bench this season before being given the keys to the Ferrari next year. Mustain should be on his 20th start by now.

    Pete played OC in the last few years and made some fatal errors.

  • mo

    In the mad rush to blame Barkley for everything, let’s remember that he has 25 TD passes to 9 picks, and two of those picks went right through his receivers hands. Compare that to what, 15 TD’s and 14 picks as a frosh? That shows improvements.

    Second, he is on his 2nd OC in two years.

    Third, while I like the choice of Kiffin for coach, and, I think his playcalling is far superior to what USC has for the last few years, he has to take a lot of the heat for the last couple of games.

    Overlooked in the euphoria over the Arizona wins, but glaring in the OSU loss should be how conservative he has gotten with the passing game.

    USC throws the most bubble screens and 3 yard outs against the sideline than any program in football. They throw passes 5 yards or less from the line of scrimmage, or, 40 or more; seldom do they throw anything in between that (no intermediate routes of 10-20 yards), and, they hate to throw any passes in the middle of the field unless it’s on a short slant, unlike the rest of the college football world’s strong passing games.

    If you have watched Barkley all season you should have noticed that he had bad body language and happy feet from the get go vs. OSU.

    I truly believe that Kiffin has him playing tight and thinking about not making mistakes instead of boosting his confidence and having him play loose.

    While Barkley is not God, and is subject to criticism, let’s be real and see where he is as a true soph-which is a helluva lot better than he was as a true frosh.

    He is going to be much better next year, 2nd year under Kiffin, 2nd year starting for Holmes & Kalil, etc., 2nd year for Woods, Prater will have had two springs+2 falls, etc., etc.

    Barkley is not the problem. And, before him the problem was not Booty or Sanchez…see a pattern here?!

    Anyways, 8-9 wins for the next 3 years is the ballpark USC is in unless the appeal is granted, and, they still have a lot of rebuilding to do.

    It’s not Barkley’s fault and it won’t be Scroggin’s fault, either, or, Kessler, or, Wittek…