This afternoon at Heritage Hall on the campus of the University of Southern California, Matt Barkley announced that he’s passing up the NFL draft to return for his senior season with the Trojans.
His 11-2 squad immediately becomes one of the preseason favorites for the national title, and Barkley just as instantly became the frontrunner for the 2012 Heisman.
The easy road of dominance Oregon enjoyed over the last three years has ended. Next year, the Ducks face the prospect of beating USC twice to make the BCS final, at least once to make the Rose Bowl.
Conquest: Barkley’s golden moment, leading the Trojan band after the upset win over Oregon this November on national TV, led directly to his decision to return for his senior year (Patrick Gee photo).
Those two showdowns will be the highlight of the PAC-12 schedule in the first year of the new media deal, epic confrontations sure to be featured on College Game Day and elsewhere.
Having Barkley return means SC has 17 starters returning next season. Coupled with standout safety T.J. McDonald’s decision to stay, the Trojans have a loaded, talented roster that will be highly motivated to reclaim their tradition and their position as the dominant team on the West Coast. The Los Angeles media, with no pro football team in town, relishes the opportunity to cover a resurgent USC. Trojan fans, jubilant at the prospect of a veteran quarterback leading a veteran team with sanctions behind them, believe this is the breakthrough that spurs a comeback. The Twitterverse and message boards are exploding.
The prevailing rumor is that Southern Cal and Oregon will meet early next year, maybe the fourth week of September in the conference opener for both schools. With Andrew Luck likely to leave for the NFL, both schools are heavy favorites to win their divisions and stage a December rematch.
The road to the Rose Bowl or the National Championship just became much tougher. Barkley is beatable; the Ducks defeated him handily in 2010, came within a couple of blown possession of beating him this year (had they done so, he’d have been much less likely to return for his senior season).
In Barkley, Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, the Trojans have the best passing combination in college football, a tremendous test for the Oregon secondary, a battle they lost this year as that trio led an attack that went for 38 points, 323 yards and four touchdown in the November win at Autzen, a win that cost the Ducks a chance at a return trip to the National Championship.
Over the next three years, Lane Kiffin and his staff will begin to suffer the effects of the loss of 30 scholarships, but for now, they loaded up with creative signing last season, sign a couple of key juco guys and some top recruits this year, so they will be loaded for 2012.
If the Ducks want to continue their great run of success, if Chip Kelly is the coach Duck fans believe it is, they’ll have to prove it, beginning with a win in the Rose Bowl, then next fall, meeting USC at their best.
Darron Thomas, meanwhile, maligned by some despite being the only quarterback in the conference to throw for 30 touchdowns in each of the last two seasons, has a new opportunity to measure himself against two quarterbacks touted as among the best in the college game, Russell Wilson in a week and a half, and Matt Barkley in two epic showdowns next fall.
Legacies are the cold comfort of old men. But Wilson, Barkley and Thomas will all be older far sooner than they think. Long after the cheering ends, the Rose Bowl and next season will matter. A lot. Each one has the opportunity to be remembered as a great leader and a great quarterback, or dismissed as a guy who just didn’t quite get it done.
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