Quarterback Recap
It was apparent during Thursday's practice that Aaron Corp's leg bothered him. What's ironic is it looked worse than it did Tuesday or Wednesday. Was it the result of being demoralized over the QB announcement?
Who knows? But Corp's limited ability to run like he normally does made the decision easy for Pete Carroll to name Matt Barkley the starter.
There will be a flood of quotes about how great Barkley played (and he did fine) but the reason the announcement came today is because Corp did not appear ready during this week's practices.[EP
``It's going to be awhile (with Corp),'' Carroll said. ``I can see it. He's not OK. I thought about it in terms of being his dad. I need to protect him longer.''
The problem is that if Barkley plays well against San Jose State, and why wouldn't he, it virtually eliminates the chance of competition for the far-more important Ohio State game on Sept. 12.
Um, USC needs to beat SJ St before worrying about the Buckeyes. Seriously, SJ St has a lot of returning seniors. If USC looks past SJ St, the OSU game might not matter. Geez, I hope the Trojans have learned their lessen against so-called "inferior" opponents.
Having said that, USC should beat the SJ St by "only" 20+ points, as Carroll runs a conservative offense, and relies on a dominant running game to take pressure off of Barkley.
Sure glad football season is here!!
Fight On!
What you have written has not appeared elsewhere, like Times story by example. And if true it all makes sense.
But also PC has said it is not a one game deal he is the QB. If the decision was based on AC's leg it would have been a lot better if PC had made that clear.
paulm i totally disagree. he needed to say what he did to give barkley that extra feeling of being the starter long term so he wouldn't be looking over his shoulder the whole san jose st game. if this is fact about corps leg still bothering him i take back what i posted before about second guessing carroll (which i never do). if he is not ready better to let him get to 100% so he can take over when barkley falls apart under the big lights at the shoe.