Answer Wednesday! (Part 4)
Back to the answers.
Q: Edward said:
How do you justify voting Texas number one, if Meyer will "probably win his third NC"? They will beat Florida State, Alabama, and Texas?
A: I think Texas is playing the best football right now and deserves to be ranked No. 1. But in clutch games, I would not bet against Tim Tebow, so I expect Florida to be there at the end and with the experience to win their third title in four years.
Q: bushwhite said:
Scott
It's very obvious the problem with this team is M. Barkley. Not knocking him, I am sure in the future he will be a good QB. But he is a true freshman playing like one...throwing INT's, fumbling the ball and basically costing us the game and season. And the rest of the team has given up because of this, as they know PC is going to insist on playing MB.
Don't you think playing MM for the rest of the season would help? It doesn't look like Corp is the answer but Mm couldn't do any worse than this, just let him play and sit barkley for a few years until he matures? Any chance o this happening?
A: There is no chance of this happening. Pete Carroll is totally committed to Matt Barkley. Maybe he thinks it would hurt Barkley's confidence too much to bench him now. The problem is he won the job with relatively little competition, or at least little suspense as far as the messages he got from the coaches. So he is pretty comfortable with being the No. 1 guy and no one says otherwise. Maybe USC is playing for the future now, but in August everyone knew the risks of using a true freshman for a whole season.
bushwhite, have you even been watching the games. It's clear that Barkley definitely has "it." There are at least a few throws per game that make my jaw drop. They're absolutely perfect.
Yes, he is making mistakes, but I'd argue he's only made one absolutely, terrible, unforgivable mistake, and that was the pick six where he stared down the receiver. The fumble was bad, but a linemen missed a block and the guy came in clean, giving Barkley no time.
The idea that he should be benched (possibly for a few YEARS) is crazy. This is how he is going to learn. Everyone wanted to see Corp play, and look what happened. Sure, he hasn't had as much of a chance to prove himself as Barkley, but he did not have a single play that made me think he could be great. Barkley has a couple per game.
In addition, unless Barkley was leading the team to score every possession against Oregon and Stanford, it would have been tough to win those games the way our defense was playing. So to say that the problem with the team is Barkley is ludicrous.
Putting in Mustain doesn't guarantee anything. And, in fact, would probably make the team worse.
Norm Chow was on the radio here in Arizona (since the ruins are playing ASU this week) and said that QB is everything in college football.
Trojan Conquest,
I absolutely disagree. Mark Sanchez didn't have to lead USC when they were winning games 17-3, 28-0, etc. Sanchez threw numerous picks at the Coliseum against ASU last year and relied on the defense to win games much of last season. Being that we have no presence at the linebacker position (Oregon and Stanford have both exploited that), our defense has cost us 2 (maybe 3) games. The QB shouldn't have to score 50+ points to win games. I know Norm Chow desires high-flying offense, but that's not what SC is about. The Trojans are used to winning with defense, and we'll be back that way sooner or later.
Barkley is not THE problem. But he is one of the problems.
Would Corp have improved given 3-4 games to develop?
Would Mustain have performed better?
We don't know, do we. Yet, we can all admit, as Scott notes, PC deviated from his "always compete" view on the QB situation.
And PC knew the potential consequences. So he laid the foundation, now he deals with it.
Riiiiiight. USC recruits the best players in the country on offense. We are loaded with 5 star blue chips. We returned 10 starters. But, we should not score 50 points a game because "that's not who we are." Gimme a mthr fkn break. The offense has been as damaging as the Def this season. Playing a true frosh sacrificed the year. And, our conservative offensive philosophy that is designed for 17-3 and 28-0 wins has cost us games too. At least our defense can be fixed with health, experience, and recruiting. Other than Norm Chow, I'm not sure that PC has a clue how to fix his broken offense.
The poor offense definitely have a trickle down impact on the defense over the season. Too many 3 and outs wears down the defense over time and probably leads to more injuries. That may be a reason for a poor defensive effort the second half of the year.
The offense lacks vision and continuity. A freshman QB compunds the problem. Barkley will be a good QB down the road, but the loss of Sanchez (would have been 5 years in the program) has been the biggest difference. Not to say that Sanchez would have helped us beat Oregon or Stanford, but you would have to think it would have made some type of difference.
It is obvious that Corp is not the answer at QB. Mustain has always been the wildcard, but you wonder why he lost his starting job at Arkansas while he was 7-0 and has been unable to compete for the job here at SC. Something is probably not right with him.