Does Mark Sanchez’s Specter Still Hang Over USC?

Anyone who has watched the Jets’ rookie quarterback throughout training camp and his first start in the NFL has to be impressed. Unless, perhaps, you are Pete Carroll or a die hard Trojan fan.

Impressed, yes, but probably more than a little disappointed. The endless ESPN reruns of Mark Sanchez completing third-down conversions, throwing for a score, exhibiting perfect footwork, spot-on reads, and pinpoint accuracy must make his former college coach just a little queasy.

To hear his present coach Rex Ryan state that Sanchez’s 10 third-down conversions were excellent even for an experienced quarterback, and to listen to commentator after commentator praise the former Trojan quarterback must make Pete Carroll, along with a lot of Trojan fans, marvel about what could have been.

Could Sanchez’s success at the next level be the reason behind so much hype around Barkley? Ever since spring practice, Heritage Hall has built such a mystique around this kid that some Trojan fans have even mentioned his name as a Heisman hopeful.

And yet Barkley may not even be the best true freshman quarterback in Division One. Several commentators, including Kirk Herbstreet, have rated Tate Forcier’s performance at home against Notre Dame far more impressive than Barkley’s performance at the Horseshoe, despite the hostile crowd.

Be that as it may, I’m not here to compare the two. That was the gist of my last article, “Matt Barkley or Tate Forcier, Who’s the Best True Freshman QB?” What does concern me is the Mark Sanchez effect on the Matt Barkley mystique.

On Saturday night Barkley, the quarterback who replaced Sanchez at USC, struggled for more than three-quarters in front of 106,000 hostile fans at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio.

Finally, with a lot of help from his offensive line and tailback Joe McKnight, Barkley put together a long scoring drive in the last six minutes.

The next day, the quarterback who led the Trojans to a 35-3 beat down of the Buckeyes the year before in the Coliseum, engineered a near-perfect Jets’ victory over the Houston Texans in Houston, 24-7. The favored Texans had a 16-8 record at home since 2006 and had been 6-2 there last season.

Two hostile venues and two entirely different quarterback performances, yet the accolades for Barkley coming from the Trojan coaching staff and players were every bit as upbeat as those on the Jets’ side for Sanchez.

No doubt Barkley had a decent game considering the circumstances, but the hype around him continues to far outweigh anything he has done so far. That final drive with six minutes left and a bruised shoulder will forever be known in Trojan lore as “The Drive.”

So, what is really going on?

One analogy that comes to mind is that of an ex-flame who has left you for someone else (like Sanchez going to the Jets). The ex-flame is doing fabulously well without you. You feel resentful, even jealous. You think of what might have been…

So, what do you do?

Do you go back to an old flame, someone you knew before who was no match for your ex-flame (like Corp or Mitch Mustain)? Or do you hold out for someone new, someone younger, with a lot of potential (Matt Barkley, for instance)?

You tell everyone you know that your new flame is so much better than any of your old flames, including that special ex-flame who has snubbed you for someone else.

In short, you build a mystique around the new flame, whether true or not. That helps your own ego overcome the pain of the loss, and it boosts the ego of your new flame as well. Who knows? The new flame may even manage to live up to the mystique you have built up.

It’s sort of like that Kevin Kostner movie Field of Dreams—“If you build it, he will come.”

The same with mystique: If you build it, he will grow.

But one thing is absolutely clear. You know it, I know it, and Pete Carroll deep in his heart knows it. If Mark Sanchez had come back to USC for his final year, all the hype would have been about him and not Matt Barkley.

In fact, Heritage Hall today would be on a do-or-die mission to promote Mark Sanchez for the Heisman Trophy.

I’m sure Matt Barkley would have received a good deal of praise for his ability and his effort in spring practice and fall camp. But he would not have been named the starting quarterback, and I would not be writing this article on the Barkley Mystique because there would be none.

Trojan players and staff alike have said that “The Drive” the other night at the Horseshoe made Barkley a “Man.”

Well, he may be a man. But Mark Sanchez is a STUD.

And when it is set up this Saturday for Matt Barkley—who hasn’t practiced all week due to the bruised shoulder—to run out onto the field at Huskie Stadium and toss off the ice pack to lead his Trojans, it will add more fuel to the mystique. But it will not make him a stud.

The only thing that can truly make him a stud are near flawless performances, not just once or twice, but consistently. If you build it, he will grow—maybe.