Breaking news out of Troy as USC proclaims from its official media organ starting quarterback Aaron Corp out for one to two weeks due to a small crack on the head of his left fibula. The injury happened in Monday's practice after a lineman rolled into his leg. In the interval much-ballyhooed true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley has been getting the No. 1 reps.
There's precedent for this as Mark Sanchez suffered a freak leg injury during last year's fall practices, returning just in time to make the Virginia opener and lead USC to a 12-1 subsequent record. What's different is the hype surrounding Barkley. ESPN's Bruce Feldman went on College Football Live the other day and relayed incredible praise from all around USC for Barkley usually reserved for Jesus and President Obama. The speculation just jumped from from ten to eleven.
So can Corp return and hold off Barkley? My instinct says he will as the normally aggressive USC program slows down for no one except at the quarterback position where blue chippers abound and established players claim a seemingly insurmountable edge. That is, control and experience have the edge over playmaking and raw ability. Plus you have to consider the Ohio State factor. Barkley can probably manage the home opener against San Jose State, but things get dicier a week later as USC heads to Columbus and 100,000 plus Ohio State fans out for revenge.USC has always managed beautifully in these types of situations and Trojans coach Pete Carroll is talking the good talk about Barkley being able to play in that kind of scenario, but realistically, it can't be ideal. Just look at the Twitter comment from the excellent Ohio State blog 'Eleven Warriors' in reacting to this news --- "bring the frosh 2 us" he jokes (maybe). USC handles freshmen and big games better than anybody in the country but this is uncharted territory and I could see the normally conservative Ohio State coaching staff smelling blood and pouncing. USC's decision matrix just received an incredibly complicating piece of data with this injury to Corp.
The weird thing is that old conservative USC model might just prove wrong this time around. Anecdotally we've got the Feldman appearance to go with endless articles including quotes from Carroll clearly not suggesting Barkley's anything but a major challenger for the job. The tone is different this time around and even more eerie have been several Carroll references to Wally Pipp, the excellent New York Yankee first baseman who was benched - seemingly a one game thing - on June 2nd 1925 and replaced by one Lou Gehrig.
Amusingly this thing is creating a bit of an ideological divide among the USC fan base, with those enamored with a new-look quarterback with actual wheels and versatility and a reputation as a winner with all the intangibles squaring off against those looking for the next new bright thing with a cannon for an arm and impeccable development pedigree as well as USC blood (Barkley's father was a USC water polo team member) and that Golden Boy look with the blonde hair.
Both quarterbacks do have one thing in common, hailing from Orange County. Corp played at Orange Lutheran while Barkley played at Mater Dei which also produced Matt Leinart.
In the meantime, and maybe it's the Corp backer in me, but some in the USC apparatus seemingly have chosen sides when they release pictures like this while the presumed starter is getting looked at for an injury.
Who wins out? We report, USC decides. Or have they already?
