Former Heisman Trophy candidate & Golden Boy Matt Barkley and his USC Trojans were humiliated on Saturday afternoon by a fired up bunch of guys from nearby Stanford. Neighbors, you might say. But the neighbors weren’t buying into the entire mystic and hype in the media of late insinuating that the Trojans were some sort of super team and their Quarterback was already a preseason hero and an odds on favorite to win the top award given in NCAA football.
But the Cardinals from Stanford came into the stadium on Saturday thinking “we know these guys”…..”we can beat these guys”…. and they did! USC led at halftime by a score of 14-7 but failed to score at all in the second half. Cardinal Quarterback Josh Nunes threw a go-ahead 37-yard touchdown to Zach Ertz,
Stepfan Taylor ran for 153 yards and scored two touchdowns, and No. 21 Stanford upset second-ranked USC 21-14 on Saturday night for its fourth straight win in this series.
It all came down to the fourth quarter when, trailing for the first time 21-14, Barkly and the Trojans got the ball back with plenty of time and good field position. So, here it was. Here was Matt Barkley’s big chance to take his place among the legendary field generals of the NCAA annals and pull off the extraordinary come- back victory as expected. But he blew it. Two aggressive sacks and a 10 yard penalty found them at 4th down and 40 yards to go. So, then Barkly tries a final, Doug Flutie style, heave ho down the field..…and threw the ball out of bounds & out of reach.
Matt Barkley completed only 20 of 41 passes for 254 yards, no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. All American, maybe. We shall see. But, Heisman Trophy material, I don’t think so.
Previously ranked among the top 3 teams in the nation, the Trojans will surely take a tumble in the various polls and rankings coming out this week. The Stanford Cardinals came into the contest as 8 point underdogs. Not only did they beat the spread, they beat the USC Trojans.
