Thoughts on the USC Trojans QB race (and the co-starter thing).

After the debacle that was the end of the season where USC fell into the Sun Bowl where they lost to Georgia Tech, I think most everyone was thinking, "anybody but Max Wittek".  He was awful, had no rhythm and was frequently far off his target.

In his two games as starter, it was a disaster.  The offense had zero ability to move the length of the field and score.

	Att	Comp	Int	Yards	TD	Sacked
ND	23	14	2	186	1	2
GTech	37	14	3	107	1	0
Totals	60	28	5	293	2	2

Come Fall camp and everyone was excited to see if the spanking new recruit Max Browne could take command and win the spot, considering that he was a Gatorade Player of the Year on offence.  No dice.  He got cut from the competition after halfway through Fall camp.

So then, all hopes rested on Cody Kessler because, well, like I said, following the ending of last season the motto became, "anybody but Max Wittek".  And according to USCFootball.com's final total QBR number, Kessler indeed was ahead by a slight margin.

Good.  All that is needed then, is for coach Lane Kiffin to name Kessler the starter.  But it didn't happen; instead, both Kessler and Wittek will play in the Hawai'i game.

"D'oh!" -- The collective cry from Los Angeles could be heard all around the world, I think.

But look, I don't think Kiffin was necessarily wrong.  The numbers were close, but as far as I can tell from compiling the sack numbers from USCFootball's observations during Fall camp, Kessler got sacked 37 times to Wittek's 28 times.  Now, while USCFootball counts a sack as an incomplete pass in their total QBR rating, the fact of the matter is, a sack is worse than throwing the ball away.

Sure, Kessler's numbers by way of accuracy, scoring and interceptions were better than Wittek's, but those sacks, especially the surge at the end of camp, were disconcerting.  At the end of camp you're supposed to be getting better, not worse.

In other words, Kessler didn't fully seize the starting role like he should have, and Wittek made a late-camp surge to narrow the gap.

While I don't generally like the idea of split reps in a regular season game, in this case, at least both quarterbacks get a chance to seize the position on the field.  For Wittek it could be a game of redemption given his terrible performance in his last two games, and the opportunity to show that what we see as silent dejection is actually quiet confidence.  For Kessler, it's a chance to take command of the huddle and become a vocal leader as Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley have been, while avoiding all those sacks.

The game will be on CBS, so you know, it could help Wittek close the chapter of his terrible Sun Bowl performance on the same channel.