Hey Kearly

kearly":1ajx7cua said:

Moving on from Monte Kiffin can only help. I know he's a legend, but there's no denying it. He wasn't getting it done.

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sc85sis":2pf0gpje said:

Ask Pete Carroll what he thinks of Matt Barkley and I can pretty much guarantee he will disagree with your opinion that Matt isn't a good leader. There's a reason Matt is the only guy in the long history of USC football to be the first true freshman to ever be named the starting QB at the beginning of the season (and play all four seasons).

Ask anyone who closely follows USC and they'll tell you that everything would have fallen completely apart after Pete left, if not for Matt. It would have been even worse after the sanctions. The NCAA did everything possible to kill USC football short of a TV ban or the death penalty. Free agency for juniors and seniors for two years during which they could transfer without having to sit out a year. The loss of 10 scholarships per year PLUS a cap on total scholarships. A two year bowl ban. Vacated games. And they took their sweet time deciding, which gave all the other schools multiple years to negative recruit so that we were already dealing with reduced scholarship numbers before the sanctions even started.

And yes, it did play a part in Pete leaving too, though not because he was running away...

Through all of that, including some very public missteps by Kiffin, Matt has quietly and gracefully been the face of the program. He was the guy the press gathered around after Pete left and after the sanctions hit. He was the guy holding it together more than anyone.

He could have bailed without penalty after his sophomore year. He could have left after last year. He stayed. He lead his team through one of the worst periods in Trojan football history.

I don't care what the final win/loss record is. Matt Barkley is one of the greatest Trojan football players of all time. And I am not the only one who feels that way.

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kearly":znx975m9 said:

Yeah, I faintly remember that now that you mention it. I do think Barkley is probably screwed if he goes to Arizona. Not just because it's Arizona, but he needs pass protection and they don't have any.

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JSeahawks":20dfnxqo said:

sc85sis":20dfnxqo said:

Ask Pete Carroll what he thinks of Matt Barkley and I can pretty much guarantee he will disagree with your opinion that Matt isn't a good leader. There's a reason Matt is the only guy in the long history of USC football to be the first true freshman to ever be named the starting QB at the beginning of the season (and play all four seasons).

Ask anyone who closely follows USC and they'll tell you that everything would have fallen completely apart after Pete left, if not for Matt. It would have been even worse after the sanctions. The NCAA did everything possible to kill USC football short of a TV ban or the death penalty. Free agency for juniors and seniors for two years during which they could transfer without having to sit out a year. The loss of 10 scholarships per year PLUS a cap on total scholarships. A two year bowl ban. Vacated games. And they took their sweet time deciding, which gave all the other schools multiple years to negative recruit so that we were already dealing with reduced scholarship numbers before the sanctions even started.

And yes, it did play a part in Pete leaving too, though not because he was running away...

Through all of that, including some very public missteps by Kiffin, Matt has quietly and gracefully been the face of the program. He was the guy the press gathered around after Pete left and after the sanctions hit. He was the guy holding it together more than anyone.

He could have bailed without penalty after his sophomore year. He could have left after last year. He stayed. He lead his team through one of the worst periods in Trojan football history.

I don't care what the final win/loss record is. Matt Barkley is one of the greatest Trojan football players of all time. And I am not the only one who feels that way.

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You're another person on this board that I really respect, and I cant argue with a single thing you just said. Like I said, my reservations about him arent even anything tangible, its just a vibe I get. I'd be happy to be wrong because he does seem like a good kid and I do respect him for sticking it out at USC when he didnt have to.

I just dont see an NFL superstar, that's all.

p.s. This is totally off topic but totally understand your point about the NCAA taking their time. With the mess the Ducks are in I have a feeling the waiting and the recruiting negativity of the last 2 or 3 years is going to have a bigger effect than any punishment we receive in the end.

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kearly":2a43mtcb said:

JSeahawks":2a43mtcb said:

sc85sis":2a43mtcb said:

Ask Pete Carroll what he thinks of Matt Barkley and I can pretty much guarantee he will disagree with your opinion that Matt isn't a good leader. There's a reason Matt is the only guy in the long history of USC football to be the first true freshman to ever be named the starting QB at the beginning of the season (and play all four seasons).

Ask anyone who closely follows USC and they'll tell you that everything would have fallen completely apart after Pete left, if not for Matt. It would have been even worse after the sanctions. The NCAA did everything possible to kill USC football short of a TV ban or the death penalty. Free agency for juniors and seniors for two years during which they could transfer without having to sit out a year. The loss of 10 scholarships per year PLUS a cap on total scholarships. A two year bowl ban. Vacated games. And they took their sweet time deciding, which gave all the other schools multiple years to negative recruit so that we were already dealing with reduced scholarship numbers before the sanctions even started.

And yes, it did play a part in Pete leaving too, though not because he was running away...

Through all of that, including some very public missteps by Kiffin, Matt has quietly and gracefully been the face of the program. He was the guy the press gathered around after Pete left and after the sanctions hit. He was the guy holding it together more than anyone.

He could have bailed without penalty after his sophomore year. He could have left after last year. He stayed. He lead his team through one of the worst periods in Trojan football history.

I don't care what the final win/loss record is. Matt Barkley is one of the greatest Trojan football players of all time. And I am not the only one who feels that way.

Click to expand...

You're another person on this board that I really respect, and I cant argue with a single thing you just said. Like I said, my reservations about him arent even anything tangible, its just a vibe I get. I'd be happy to be wrong because he does seem like a good kid and I do respect him for sticking it out at USC when he didnt have to.

I just dont see an NFL superstar, that's all.

p.s. This is totally off topic but totally understand your point about the NCAA taking their time. With the mess the Ducks are in I have a feeling the waiting and the recruiting negativity of the last 2 or 3 years is going to have a bigger effect than any punishment we receive in the end.

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I'm experiencing a classy post overload between the two of you.

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kearly":3smc6e09 said:

JSeahawks":3smc6e09 said:

Interesting list. I'm not going to argue because its all in the eye of the beholder and there's no wrong or right answer. I do disagree with you on Barkley though. I dont understand how you can say he handled adversity better then anybody when he was the quarterback of the 1st ever preseason number 1 team to end up unranked. To me thats failing as soon as adversity hit.

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Oh come now, that's lame and you should know better.

First, football is a team game. You can't blame a QB wholesale for a teams record. If I blamed anyone, it would be their coaching staff. Biggest "less with more" staff in the Pac-12.

Second, you might recall that I thought USC was vastly overrated in the preseason and thought Oregon was going to have a far better season. I predicted USC would have at least 3 losses.

Third, the only reason they were so over-rated to begin with was because they were so good to end the prior season. And why was that? It was because Barkley was white hot. Unsustainably white hot, but he was on a serious tear nonetheless.

What I mean by adversity is having to lead a team back to win a game even when most of the rest of the team is trying it's hardest to lose you the game. Their defense was a joke last season, and their pass protection wasn't much better. It was a little like Jake Locker's situation at UW, but with more talent at WR.

Russell Wilson is incredible. But he still lost 3 games playing for a LOADED Wisconsin team that year. He lost six games playing for a LOADED Seahawks team this year. You can't just assume that great QB = almost never losing. And USC was hardly a good team last year. I don't care what their rivals star rankings says. UW was kicking USC's ass in the 2nd half and probably would have won if not for Keith Price fumbling the game away with 3 turnovers in the 4th quarter. Many times that year, (including that game) I saw Barkley lead a sinking ship to wins. They better really hope that Max Browne is ready, because that team could threaten a losing record in 2013 at the rate that roster is underachieving.

Generally speaking, if you are evaluating a QB by wins, you stepped way off the reservation. I could name many fantastic winners in college that were horrible prospects. I believe David Greene was and might still be the winningest QB at Georgia. Then you have Tim Tebow, Colin Klein, etc.

As far as Luck, he was in an extremely favorable situation at Stanford. He had a great defense and an all-universe O-line and probably the best group of TEs in college football. When he was rarely thrown into adverse situations, and it was really really rare, the cracks in his game quickly showed. It's not surprising to me at all that he struggled with incompletions and interceptions this year. He's throws a very pretty pass and is clutch, but he's not Mr. Amazing like people think.

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McGruff":wqhld8yr said:

I get a little tired of everyone sucking yer bum, but that's a seriously great post. I think Luck is overrated. Good QB, but really benefitted from not just great talent at Stanford, but great coaching with Harbaugh. I hate Harbaugh, but any guy who can polish Alex Smith into a serviceable started and get a REALLY RAW Colin Kaepernick playing at a probowl level in year two is some kind of QB savant. Take Smith away from Harbaugh and he's going to be a 75 QB rating passer again. Take Luck away from Harbaugh and he's a barely average rookie QB.

And I love Barkley.

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