Barkley Dominates Headlines, USC Lines Dominate San Jose State

The buzz for USC heading into Saturday was true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, but after the Trojans' 56-3 thrashing of San Jose State the men in the trenches proved to be the real show. After a shaky first quarter that saw the Trojans trailing 3-0 thanks to three punts and two turnovers, the offensive line took over creating massive lanes on the way to a 342 yard rushing effort (7.6 yards/carry). The line also pass blocked brilliantly, leaving Barkley nearly limitless time to throw.

On the other side of the ball the Trojans' defense logged a stunning 16 tackles for loss in limiting the Spartans to a meek 121 yards of total offense. There's no doubt Barkley is a talent and had his moments in an otherwise conservative passing game plan, but the Trojans' lines really got after it on Saturday in a manner that if it can be repeated next weekend against Ohio State will go a long way towards championship talk this season.

For his part, Barkley mixed in a ton of screens and bootlegs early before coaches opened things up in the second half. He had a few misfires and nearly overthrew a few receivers but its hard to quibble with the numbers: 15 of 19 for 233 yards and a touchdown.

Backup Aaron Corp completed each of his four passes in the fourth quarter, tossing another touchdown as USC was lights out from the midpoint of the second quarter onward.

If one had watched the first quarter or so the old doubts would have remained about these Trojans but something clicked in that second quarter as USC simply outmuscled and out-talented an aggressive Spartan squad. It was staggering to witness, just how forceful USC's lines were -- pulling guards with feet like ballerinas, defensive tackles collapsing the pocket with style and ferocity. Just scary stuff but not all that meaningful unless repeated against a more substantial opponent.

That opportunity obviously comes against Ohio State next week against a Buckeye squad that all but humiliated itself on national television in squandering a home lead against plucky Navy.

Much-hyped tailback Joe McKnight may have finally come out of the fog of the last two years in turning in a scintillating 145-yard rushing day capped by a weaving, physical, 54-yard touchdown run punctuated with a flip as he crossed the end zone. Amazingly he was just one of three Trojan backs to average more than 10 yards/carry, as Allen Bradford netted 53 yards for a 13.2 average and Marc Tyler gained 72 reserve yards for a 14.4 average.