For the second time in three years, USC senior quarterback Matt Barkley — who is 2-0 against the Irish — is going to miss the matchup with Notre Dame due to an injury he sustained the week prior.
Some of what Kiffin has been criticized
for, including his injury policy, Schrader said has been overblown. "There are already six or seven coaches
in the Pac-12 that have a policy about not talking about injuries, yet it was a huge issue that Lane Kiffin had decided to no longer talk about injuries. But the way he walks out on a press conference, changing numbers of players … there are certain circumstances when he brings it upon himself. Other times it's just because he's in Los Angeles. … He deserves it sometimes." Barkley didn't deserve a year like this,
which included a poor defense and a lack of protection up front that led to a shoul- der injury against UCLA Nov. 17. He cer- tainly didn't come back to potentially lose six games.
The 2012 Unitas Golden Arm and
Wuerffel Trophy finalist owns 20 USC career, season and game records — 10 of which are Pac-12 marks. He is the Pac-12 career record holder for passing yards (12,327), completions (1,001) and touch- down passes (116), among others, and is the only player in league history to have four years of 2,500 yards of total offense. In his fourth year as the Trojans' start-
ing quarterback, Barkley threw for 3,273 yards with 36 touchdowns and 15 inter- ceptions on 246-of-387 passing, but the prize for which he returned — a national title — has eluded him. And for the second time in three seasons, he'll miss the game against Notre Dame. The injury is the lat- est in a string of disappointments. "The look on Matt's face — the reaction after they lost to Stanford — said a lot to
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PHOTO COURTESY USC
