Wittek and Kessler Battling it Out

The only real question for this off-season is who is going to be the starting quarterback?

Matt Barkley's struggles last season took away the option of allowing Max Wittek or Cody Kessler to get some quality time in real game situations.

So now, Max Wittek and Cody Kessler are battling it out.

Nothing else really matters to me other than this specific position. If the transition isn't smooth, it is going to be a long season.

Yes, having a solid O-line to protect the quarterback is just as important, but even with the O-line intact, if the quarterback can't get the ball down the field or run the offense effectively then everything else doesn't matter.

We all came away with concerns after Wittek's performance against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech at the end of the season. I'm not sure we could put that all on him but the results are the results and they were staggering.

Lane Kiffin sounds like he is trying to be the hotshot poker player in this passage from the LA Times today.

So Coach Lane Kiffin is expected to pick Max Wittek or Cody Kessler as the No. 1 quarterback for USC's Aug. 29 opener against Hawaii — and beyond.

When asked Monday if he would consider splitting playing time at quarterback in the first few games before making a decision, Kiffin reiterated, "We'd never say never. We haven't done that before. But we'll see."

Through three days of practices, Wittek and Kessler are making it a difficult decision.

I realize that Kiffin isn't going to give us much to go on, but even he has to know that having quarterbacks split time under center is not going to be productive and running his offense.

Like Kiffin said, it's never been done and I don't expect him to start doing it this year.

Not with his job on the line.

- - -

This made me laugh...

From Wolf.

If you listened to Lane Kiffin or Matt Barkley last year, USC's strength was its team leadership.But this year's Trojans make it clear they do not want to make the same leadership mistakes of a season ago."Once we took our second loss, we knew that's it for the national championship,'' star receiver Marqise Lee said. "But if we do have a loss this year, we'll stay together as a team."

Quarterback Max Wittek said the team relied too much on its big-name players last year.

"I think there's a different feel in togetherness now," Wittek said. "We're a lot more united. Some of us had a tendency with so many highly touted players to wait for someone to make a play.

"There was too much passivity."

Hmmmm....

But I thought we had great leadership last year?

I know it's Wolf but he has a point...

I thought Matt Barkley staying for his senior year was the leadership the team needed to put them over the top. I think it's pretty clear now that towards the end of the season there was a little bit of strife between Kiffin Barkely and the rest of the offense.

You can probably file this under Kiffin playing favorites.

It has been a resounding theme this off-season that Kiffin has his favorites and that he leaned too much on the offense, particularly the quarterbacks and wide receivers.

This is pretty much Marqise Lee's team now. Any new leadership is going to have to come from him. It will be interesting to see how Lee's maturity will affect his leadership of this team. Will the team respond?

There's been a lot of chatter on the boards that Kiffin is once again playing favorites, particularly on the O-line.

Frankly it's more drama than I want to deal with. I just want to see the team perform at a high-level. Hopefully this year we can finally see that, but I have very low expectations with a depleted roster and an o-line that is still suspect.

Time will tell...

- - -

Some Video...

FIGHT ON!