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MATT BARKLEY NEWS

• USC football: Matt Barkley named Pac-12 offensive player of week
• USC Trojans Football: Matt Barkley The Maestro In Upset Of Oregon
• Matt Barkley Heisman campaign begins
• USC huge win at Oregon
• Stopping RB Polk is biggest key
• USC's Matt Barkley finds love and perspective in Nigeria
• Record-game For Barkley; Woods and Lee Shine in 48-41 Win Over Arizona
• USC Football Returns Home To Host Arizona
• Bank Of The West Weekly Football Honors
• FB | Jones still out with injury, to miss game Saturday against Southern California
• Trojans in need of better effort
• Scoggins: For Kiffin, misery doesn't love company
• USC Football Notebook: Barkley, Woods on same page in scrimmage
• USC's Matt Barkley named to 2011 Manning Award watch list
• USC FOOTBALL NOTES: Barkley shaky in first scrimmage
• Pio Vatuvei Verbals To USC Trojans Football
• USC's Matt Barkley, 5 other Pac-12 players named to 2011 Walter Camp watch list
• Southern California Trojans football
• USC Trojans Football: The Nickell Robey Story
• USC football: Issues come to the fore in the fourth
• Trojans release new numbers fot the fall roster
• No changes on the horizon for USC's football uniforms
• USC football: Nick Perry has a big number in mind
• OT Smith helps keep first-round grade at USC pro day
• Injuries will impact USC practice
• USC linemen the next Cam Newton?
• USC hires Nebraska's Gilmore as WRs coach
• USC Trojans redshirt freshman WR Kyle Prater breaks foot
• Eight USC Trojans invited to 2011 NFL Combine
• USC's Johnson, O'Dowd, Wright to take part in 2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl
• Amir Carlisle and Anthony Sarao Choose USC
• USC Recruiting | Trojans eyeing McKeesport DL recruit Delvon Simmons
• USC football: Is Lane Kiffin too unemotional?
• USC signs two more JC gridders
• Football recruiting: Losing Aaron Douglas hurts
• USC Football Recruiting: One More Verbal and Closing the Book on a Busy Weekend
• USC football: Breaking down Matt Barkley’s season
• USC seniors deserve a better ending
• USC Football Hosts Notre Dame In Famed Intersectional Rivalry
• USC Football: Was the Arizona Game a Sign of a Modified Spread in 2011?
• Barkley named semifinalist for O’Brien Award
• USC FOOTBALL NOTES: Passing comment serves as motivation
• Report card: Grading the Trojans (vs. Stanford)
• USC Football | Sarkisian shows he has transitioned from student to master
• Jupiter and Havili named USC Credit Union Student Athletes of the Week
• USC Football: Robert Woods' 97-yard kickoff touchdown return
• USC's Tyler goes from forgotten to first
• USC leans on Matt Barkley's leadership
• Mater Dei WR Blackwell among best in California
• USC Football Success Factors in 2010 And Beyond
• Laying the Foundation: USC Football Recruiting, 2011
• Joe McKnight doesn't mind the comparisons to New Orleans Saints' Reggie Bush
• USC Trojans to face Boston College Eagles in Emerald Bowl
• Corp gets the nod in Saturday's game against Washington
• Colts sign rookies Austin Collie (WR, BYU) and Fili Moala
• The Sideline Report: '09 College Football Preview
• USC 101: History of the Song Girl
• USC football: The best DBs, OLs in the nation?
• USC football: 5 most indispensable Trojans
• Ryans set to help Cushing
• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 4)
• UCS's Pete Carroll to Author "Win Forever" Book
• Trojans' quarterback Barkley getting into a groove
• Trojans' defense is quickly making strides
• 2009 NFL Draft Preview: Clay Matthews
• Lions coach Jim Schwartz will keep open mind at draft
• Waiting game finally over for Chiefs' Cassel
• Odd questions are the norm for prospects at the NFL combine
• Longevity runs in Matthews family
• Pythons kept at bay by brilliant Baxter
• SIGNING DAY 2009 : West Helena's Winston highlights Razorbacks' 2009 commitments
• USC's Sanchez among 12 Trojans invited to NFL combine
• Should He Have Stayed One More Season? Mark Sanchez Enters the NFL Draft!
• Carroll apologizes to Sanchez for demeanor
• Carl Smith And Mark Jackson Join USC Football Staff
• High School Football: Matt Barkley Leads White Team to Victory in Under Armour All-America Game
• Next Season Could Be A Test For Carroll, Trojans
• Trojans offensive line will have holes to fill
• Trojans' Moala will try not to cry
• Trojans' outlook: Up in BCS, down in Rose Bowl hopes
• USC blanks Arizona State, 28-0
• USC Seeks Upward Mobility
• QB Tuel takes aim at Centennial
• USC linebacker Cushing could be sidelined for Oregon State game
• Matt Barkley, Nation's Top HS Football Prospect, Opens Season on ESPN2

USC seniors deserve a better ending

 

For 19 seniors, there will be no other college football game like this one, the last one of their USC football careers.
Saturday night will be final time they take the field as Trojans, walking out in uniformed walls of road white and cardinal and gold, holding gloved hands and wearing jerseys without their names stitched between the shoulder blades.

These seniors have been more accustomed to closing out seasons in the Rose Bowl game against a Big Ten opponent on New Year's Day than merely finishing at the Rose Bowl because that's the final regular-season destination listed on the pocket schedule.

But the seniors on the Trojans (7-5, 4-4) all knew, perhaps even secretly feared, that everything in this first season of paying the price for Reggie Bush's professionalism could end with this disappointment. They are unranked, underperforming, under the radar and on the road for a virtually meaningless contest against their crosstown rival UCLA Bruins (4-7, 2-6), who won't be playing in a postseason for less understandable reasons.

USC's seniors deserve more than the anticlimactic end they're getting, losers in their past two games, banged up, blown out by Oregon State and beaten this past Saturday by Notre Dame for the first time since 2001.

All the seniors should get respect and gratitude, from the lesser-known Trojans walk-ons of cornerback Omari Crittenden and long snapper Jeff Serrano to the more visible starters and potentially NFL-bound players in wide receiver Ronald Johnson, fullback Stanley Havili and cornerback Shareece Wright.

They deserve to play their best game and put on their finest show Saturday.
They deserve it because running back C.J. Gable and receiver David Ausberry stayed without being guaranteed a carry or a catch. Because punter Jacob Harfman and kicker Joe Houston played through a final season they knew would be controversial because of the NCAA sanctions, challenging because of the coaching changes and exhausting because depth problems and less rewarding because of the postseason ban.

The deserve it because linebackers Michael Smith and Michael Morgan remained loyal teammates when they had a free pass from the NCAA to transfer anywhere without having to sit out a season, to be a potential star elsewhere, to play in higher-stakes, regular-season-ending contests and think about having bowl games in January. Other athletes from today's me-first and me-now generation would have jumped the sinking Trojans ship.

Offensive linemen Butch Lewis and Zack Heberer, defensive linemen Derek Simmons and Tyler Grady and the 15 other seniors weigh down the lifeboats. They grabbed buckets and started bailing. They stayed true to Troy, never looked back, never complained and never felt sorry for themselves even when they didn't get the playing time, the starts, the highlights and the memories they thought a senior campaign might provide.

None of this is fair or just because these unselfish seniors, much like every other player on the Trojans roster, had nothing to do with the greedy acts of the former Trojan who played in three postseasons and accepted a house, a car, cash and a Heisman Trophy he didn't deserve.

None of this is what they hoped or imagined in fall camp just months after the heavy NCAA penalties stemming from the four-year Reggie Bush extra-benefits investigation rocked Heritage Hall hard enough you could see all the crystal and bronze trophies shake off their pedestals.

Wright, the senior cornerback and sparkplug, started the season by talking up his Trojans as a motivated, determined and defiant group all drinking from the same "Fight On!" Kool-aid. He boldly said the team would go 13-0 and predicted he would lead the nation in interceptions.

Then his Trojans suffered five defeats, losing in stunning fashion to Washington and rival Notre Dame and getting blown out by top-ranked Oregon at home and Oregon State on the road. Wright, a 12-game starter in the young and inexperienced secondary that is ranked No. 112 out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in pass defense (262 yards per game allowed), has played his heart out but does not have an interception.

Senior running back Allen Bradford thought he would be the featured running back at Tailback U. He opened fall camp pledging his leadership by example only to be overtaken as the starting tailback coming out of spring by redshirt junior Marc Tyler, the oft-injured fourth-stringer.

Bradford started just three games despite rushing for 131 yards against Minnesota and a career-best 223 yards against Washington. His tendency to fumble has made him too big a risk for play-calling Coach Lane Kiffin to give him the ball in two of the past three games or allow him more than 18 carries in the past six contests.

The circus-catching Johnson, known as one of the hardest working and kindest guys on the team, could have been any team's No. 1 receiver. He chose to be sophomore Matt Barkley's top target and become a mentor to freshman wideout and kick returner Robert Woods, who leads the team in receiving with an average of 61.2 yards per game.

In each game Johnson and Woods have had a friendly competition over who has the most yards after catch. They have become the top receiving pair in the Pac-10, but Johnson just wants to shake off the bad memory of his last touch: the dropped 50-yard pass from Mitch Mustain that could have gone for a touchdown and defeated Notre Dame.

Johnson, Bradford and Wright have earned more glorious places in Trojans history for this season of sacrifice. They and the rest of the seniors have one last chance for redemption, salvation and NFL audition when they play the Bruins in a game that matters only as much as they make it matter.
It's a game that far from the splendid sendoff some of them envisioned when former Coach Pete Carroll came into their living rooms and doused them with feel-good speeches about the national championships, Pac-10 titles and BCS bowl games and won by what has turned out to be a too-good-to-be-true program.

This farewell season has none of that and no Carroll, who pulled the ripcord and parachuted to coach the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. The 2010 Trojans have had field seats to see league rival Oregon (BCS No. 1) contend for berth in a national championship game and longtime Trojan punching bags, Stanford (BCS No. 4) and Arizona, punch their postseason tickets.

Among the senior highlights this season were Johnson's 89-yard punt return for a touchdown, center Kristofer O'Dowd's return to upset his hometown Arizona Wildcats, tight end Jordan Cameron's first USC touchdown catch, Havili's selfless blocking and longtime backup quarterback Mustain's first Trojan start against Notre Dame.

In their USC final game, they deserve to get the senior moments nobody will ever forget.

 

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MORE MATT BARKLEY NEWS

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Jan 30 2012 2:34PM GMT

Football recruiting: Morris may be a pleasant surprise for Tide
Montgomery Advertiser Jan 30 2012 2:34PM GMT Florida State. "You see Alec Morris here, he's serviceable. Alabama hasn't needed to have Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley or Matt Stafford out there to win. So field generals are good. Quarterbacking one of the premier programs for two seasons in

Football recruiting: Morris may be a pleasant surprise for Tide
Prattville Progress Jan 30 2012 12:20PM GMT Florida State. "You see Alec Morris here, he's serviceable. Alabama hasn't needed to have Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley or Matt Stafford out there to win. So field generals are good. Quarterbacking one of the premier programs for two seasons in

Local roundup: Disc golfers Criss, Hokum win open divisions at Felton Freeze
Santa Cruz Sentinel Jan 30 2012 10:59AM GMT the Intermediate flight, La Selva's Ryan Gonyea shot a 2-under 112 for the win, San Jose's Matt Barkley took second with 117 and Monterey's Sean Allen took third at 119. CYCLING The fourth race in the Surf City Cyclo-X series course was held Sunday at

Kiffin, Orgeron Keep USC on Track
DawgsBite.com Jan 30 2012 6:37AM GMT of Robert Woods and Marquise Lee among others, and some teams could lose some of their leaders like Matt Barkley. ?Getting or keeping those guys on campus while trimming the roster of non producers will help lessen the impact of the scholarship

Holler: RG3 holds the key
PackerReport.com Jan 29 2012 2:22PM GMT flat on their faces, the quarterback market is as hot as it has ever been. The decisions of Matt Barkley and Landry Jones, both of whom would have been first-rounders, to stay in school increased Griffin?s value. Unlike most aspects of life, where

Top recruits don't always work out for teams
Individual.com Jan 29 2012 9:28AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. Class of 2008 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio

Mock draft begins with Luck, trade for Griffin
SI.com Jan 29 2012 7:58AM GMT read is that Tannehill is the most likely candidate. Washington's desperation at quarterback is obvious, and no Matt Barkley or Landry Jones means the Redskins might have to roll the dice on the former Aggie. Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina. The

Top recruits don't always work out for teams
Pittsburgh Tribune Review Jan 29 2012 7:23AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State,

Top recruits don't always work out for teams
Pittsburgh Tribune Review Jan 29 2012 7:23AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State,