TrojanNYC.com

Quick Update: Kristofer O'Dowd Officially Out for San Jose St.

Scott Wolf is reporting that Kris O'Dowd will not be ready for the opener. In terms of how that'll affect the starting line-up, Jeff Byers will take over the center spot and Alex Parsons will move to RG.

Photo of the Day: Allen Bradford is Going to Truck Some Opposing Players This Year

Photo from Official Site.  See more Fall Scrimmage photos here.

Message to Allen: THIS IS THE YEAR.  He knows it, I know it, and Chris Galippo's face and Drew McAllister's head know it.  Been saying it for years, Allen needs to get touches!

Loving the potential RB group this year: Stafon, Joe and Allen.  FILTHY.

Quick Update: Ronald Johnson Out With Broken Clavicle

He's expected to be out for 6-8 weeks.  David Ausberry will become the #2 receiver with Brice Butler likely #3.

The injury came when RoJo took a hard hit after making a reception.

Update: Video clip of RoJo's injury above (1:55)

Major Edit: Putting Matt Barkley's Interceptions Into Perspective

From the Official blog:

When looking back at previous seasons, Barkley's stat line from training camp puts him on pace -- if not at an even better rate -- than USC's quarterbacks in the past seven years. Take a look:

Matt Barkley ('09 Fall Camp):    301-for-486 • 61.9% • 8 interceptions

Mark Sanchez (2008 season):   241-for-366 • 65.8% • 10 interceptions

John David Booty ('07 season):  215-for-340 • 63.2% • 10 interceptions

John David Booty ('06 season):  269-for-436 • 61.7% • 9 interceptions

Matt Leinart (2005 season):       283-for-431 • 65.7% • 8 interceptions

Matt Leinart (2004 season):       269-for-412 • 65.3% • 6 interceptions   *Heisman Trophy winner

Matt Leinart (2003 season):       255-for-402 • 63.4% • 9 interceptions

Carson Palmer (2002 season):   309-for-489 • 63.2% • 10 interceptions  *Heisman Trophy winner

EDIT:  This is what I get for not reading Ben Malcolmson's posts all the way through.  I completely missed this part of his post while writing my previous entry:

Barkley's 486 throws -- he completed 301 of them for a 61.9% rate --  is a little bit more than a typical season's worth of attempts, so eight interceptions would be a phenomenally low number in the grand scheme of things. And to make it even more calming is the fact that Barkley won't be facing one of the nation's top defensive backfields week-in and week-out, like he does in practice each day.

It didn't even cross my mind that the stats of the previous QBs above could come from the regular season - it was such a ridiculous idea that I didn't even bother to check up on it.  Well of course it turns out Ben actually used REGULAR SEASON stats to compare with Barkley's CAMP stats, which is as apple-to-oranges as you can possibly get and completely meaningless.  So scratch my previous post, I'll leave it up as a major FAIL for TNYC.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previous Post: Very interesting stats.  Matt has the second lowest INT/Passes ratio (1.65%), second only to Leinart in 2004 (1.46%).  You can even argue that Barkley's stat is more impressive considering the secondary he faced - likely the best of the Pete Carroll era.  If memory serves me correct, in 2004 we had guys like Jason Leach, Darnell Bing, Eric Wright, Ronald Nunn, and Justin Wyatt; a good group but not on the same level as Mays, Pink, KeTo, and Shareece.

Although the stats above do help put things into perspective, it also can be a bit misleading.  More so than the actual number of interceptions, it's obviously more important to look at how/when those interceptions happened.  Barkley has shown a higher propensity to force throws than say Leinart in '04 and '05 so you would almost have to assign a weight to those INTs.  

Moreover, looking back to 2005, Leinart had the same number of INTs and a slightly worse INT/Passes ratio (1.86%), but if anyone remembers the '05 Fall camp/scrimmages, he controlled the offense in his sleep and walked the 1st team up-and-down the field with ease.  That's no knock on Barkley; obviously Leinart had the greater advantage of being in the system for years and playing with guys like Reggie Bush, Dwayne Jarrett, and LenDale White, but it does serve as another check on making conclusions based off of INT numbers.

The stats above should rightfully quell those that are making extreme statements of Barkley being a loose cannon and put things into perspective, but at the same time, it's also silly to use it as justification in saying that Matt is in a equal position to lead the offense as the other QBs on the list in their respective years.

Video: ESPN Matt Barkley Interview

Matt talks about being the new starting QB and how he felt after he got the news.

Thoughts on Matt Barkley Being Named the Starting QB

Earlier today I was absolutely shocked by the announcement of Matt Barkley winning the starting QB job, but after reading Scott Wolf's latest report on Aaron Corp's injury status, the choice makes absolute sense:

It was apparent during Thursday's practice that Aaron Corp's leg bothered him. What's ironic is it looked worse than it did Tuesday or Wednesday. Was it the result of being demoralized over the QB announcement?

"It's going to be awhile (with Corp),'' Carroll said. ``I can see it. He's not OK. I thought about it in terms of being his dad. I need to protect him longer.''

Although Aaron put together solid practices this week, reports did come out stating that he looked visibly uncomfortable when planting on certain throws, especially on the run.  Even his quote after Tuesday's practice seem to acknowledge his limitations:

"I can do everything right now that playing quarterback at USC [requires] me to do,"

At the end of the day, despite Aaron's admirable desire to fight through pain to earn the starting QB job, it does no one any good to have a injured player starting at the most important position on the team. We all saw what happened at the Coliseum in 2007 against Stanford when John David Booty tried to play through a pinky injury on his throwing hand (for those that lived under a rock: he ended up being picked off 4 times including one late in the game that eventually set up the winning drive for Stanford).  To me it's clear, you go with a healthy Barkley over a hobbled Aaron Corp.

Congrats to Matt.

Quick Update: ESPN Reporting Matt Barkley as the Starter

Full update later.

LSUFreek: "Big Balls Pete" Carroll About to Teabag the Buckeyes

LSUFreek is a straight fool.  Check out the LSUFreek GIF archives.

Photo of the Day: Mark Sanchez Named the Starting QB of the NY Jets

Congratulations to Mark for winning the Jets starting QB job.

Video: Trojan Highlights From Around the NFL - Preseason Week #2

Nice highlights of Rey, Keith, and Mark among others.