- Lane Kiffin listed the injury omissions from practice in the video below. Most notably, Ed Orgeron is walking without a boot, which is probably bad news for the defensive line.
- As for the players, the offensive tackles are finally fully healthy on the heels of their best performance of the season. Matt Kalil is happy to get back to the weekly grind. "I hate it," Kalil said about missing practice. "I have to practice. I can't sit and just watch. It kills me. I want to be out there practicing."
- Tyron Smith and Kalil have been the unsung heroes of this offense. Matt Barkley has been sacked just 13 times in 10 games. "Our line has been doing a great job. No sacks last week was huge," said Barkley, who did credit his own "escapability" for keeping the clean sheet. "I kind of let them off on that one play."
- Kalil and Smith shutout the Pac-10's first and third best sack artists. "Me and Tyron, we both did a great job of watching our film and studying those guys up," Kalil said. "Those are probably the best guys we'll face all year." Oregon State does have 25 sacks in nine games this season (Arizona has 27 in 10).
- Offensive lines tend to struggle on the road due to crowd noise, but the Trojans have played their most consistent football away from the Coliseum this season. "We've played fairly well on the road and it's going to be another challenge for us," Kalil said about Corvallis. "It's going to be cold and they are looking to get back on track after losing to Washington State, so I'm sure they are going to get after us."
- Kalil does not want the seniors to end their careers having never won in the Beaver State. "It would be good to break our little Oregon losing streak. I'm feeling pretty confident and we're going to come out flying."
- Matt Barkley was hardly flying on Saturday when he tweaked his hamstring, but he's fine. "I don't really stride out all too often and it kind of got me right there," joked Barkley, who called Kiffin off a play late in the game because his mobility was hampered. "I wanted to give our offense the best chance to convert. I'm looking out for my team."
- Barkley found a creative way to rewrite the standard "one game at a time" coach's line. "There's a big 1 at the end of this week, which is what we're trying to get and the next week it will be the same thing. Hopefully, those three will add up to 10 at the end."
- I was dead wrong in one of my keys to the game last Friday. Barkley simply managed the game against Arizona and the offense was just fine. "I was proud of how we controlled the ball," Barkley assessed the offense's performance. "We were really physical. I'm proud of our o-line. They came back and were cutting guys and were downfield blocking."
- This Saturday's forecast is calling for cold and wet weather. In anticipation, the Trojans drenched the footballs in practice today, but Barkley thinks the simulated water is more difficult than actual rain. "When you know it's raining, when you know it's wet, then you can adapt. You can't have the mindset of changing your gameplan at all."
- Last week, Barkley announced his plan to not throw any interceptions for the rest of the season. Of course, it came to an abrupt end when Jordan Cameron whiffed on a pass and the deflection off his helmet landed in Arizona hands. "We're not talking about that," Barkley smiled when I asked him if he forgot to tell Cameron about his no pick plan. "I'm not focusing on the negatives."
- Here's Coach Kiff...
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