Matt Barkley has had as good a season as any quarterback can have. His season was almost at the same level as Andrew Luck of the Stanford Cardinal. Like Luck, Barkley completed around 70% of his passes and had about eight yards per pass attempt. He also threw for more yards per game than Luck, as Barkley had to shoulder the load for the USC offense while the Stanford signal-caller could rely on his run game for a more balanced attack.
However, Barkley lost his head-to-head matchup with Luck, and that might have made the difference in who got invited to New York. Luck was named one of the five Heisman finalists along with Montee Ball of the Wisconsin Badgers, Robert Griffin III of the Baylor Bears, Trent Richardson of the Alabama Crimson Tide, and Tyrann Mathieu of the LSU Tigers.
Barkley was probably hurt by the fact that USC was on probation and his team was never in contention for the national championship or the BCS. Perhaps if he returns next year, he'll have a chance at being one of the frontrunners.
To discuss Barkley and USC football, go to Conquest Chronicles.