Matt Barkley just won't let himself get rattled.
The Buckeyes tried it. Cal tried it. And now the Ducks are going to take the shot at trying to rattle Barkley.
Notre Dame???
(((((((((YAWN)))))))))
It doesn't matter to him...he won't be fazed...
His first college road game came in front of a record crowd of more than 105,000 at Ohio State, and Barkley led a fourth-quarter drive for the winning touchdown. He subsequently notched victories at Cal and Notre Dame, both top-25 teams at the time.
So it was no surprise when Barkley shrugged off the potential impact of the crowd at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium for Saturday night’s game between the No. 4 Trojans and No. 10 Ducks.
"It doesn’t matter to me," Barkley said Tuesday. "I’ve never been there. I heard it’s crazy, but I say this every road game: It won’t matter."
Barkley said none of the previous venues has bothered him - "I feed off the energy," he said. "I feed off that noise. I love it" - and USC coach Pete Carroll hasn’t detected any jitteriness.
"Never. Not for a second," Carroll said. "He’s gone out there and played great football and done everything that a young guy could possibly do with his opportunity so far.
"Hopefully he can continue to grow and gain confidence and the wherewithal about the places that we go. Someday there won’t be a surprise for him anywhere. There won’t be these firsts that he goes through."
The kid just goes out and does his thing.
It hasn't always been pretty, as he has made a mistake here and there but he certainly did not melt down.
It has been fun to watch Barkley mature but he still has a long way to go. Saturday will be another "first" checked off the list!