USC rolled in a 56-3 dismantling of San Jose State University on Saturday. From this solid performance against such a strong powerhouse, we can take away several notes.
The Trojans probably have 3 serious Heisman contenders. Matt Barkley, Taylor Mays, and Joe McKnight.
Since USC thoroughly dismantled SJSU, any and all questions about Matt Barkley’s readiness to lead the Trojans into the Horseshoe against tOSU are unreasonable. A win at home against THE San Jose State Spartans indicates that The Chosen One is ready to levitate past defensive linemen and throw lightning bolts to his receivers in front of 100,000 Buckeye fans.
Joe McKnight still fumbles. A lot.
Before the game, most media outlets were probably too critical of Pete Carroll’s decision to start Matt Barkley - Scott Wolf, I’m looking at you. Carroll’s choice made sense - Barkley’s main competitor for the job had a broken leg. But after the drubbing of SJSU, ESPN, the LA Times, and even Scott Wolf to a small degree have exhibited an irrational exuberance about the new Trojan signal-caller. Carroll and Jeremy Bates kept Barkley on a very short leash, something that probably isn’t feasible against Ohio State. Beware these monumental swings in public opinion regarding Barkley - the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Our linebackers are surprisingly fast and physical. Apparently, when you plug five-star recruits into your starting lineup, good things happen.
I pray to God we don’t have to ever punt again, because Billy O’Malley is not very good at kicking a ball more than thirty yards.
Aaron Corp still has very limited mobility. He was hobbling around in the backfield, negating his main strength: speed and elusiveness. Clearly “cracked fibula” means what we all thought it meant: “broken leg”.
The offensive line looked dominant without all-American Kris O’Dowd. It’s amazing how good you look when you play San Jose State University. Nonetheless, the performance bodes well for next week's game.
A unit (other than punting) that disappointed on Saturday was the defensive line. Missing two starters (Averell Spicer and Armond Armstead), the unit was generally unable to consistently get into the backfield without bringing linebackers on a blitz. That inability to generate an organic pass rush without the use of a blitz scheme is very troubling heading into the Horseshoe, where the ability of the defensive ends to get to Terrelle Pryor is a key on defense.
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This post sucked. Now give me back my 1000 dollars.
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