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Mustain moves up at USC Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Come Sept. 13, fans of Arkansas football in general and Mitch Mustain in particular could be in a bind. That afternoon, the Razorbacks are at Texas. Thirty minutes after the kickoff at Austin, Ohio State is in Los Angeles and Mustain could be the USC quarterback. Both games are regional productions on ABC and the Arkansas affiliates are certain to show the Razorbacks. Mustain, who left Arkansas after a year of hassling with former coach Houston Nutt, is in line to start USC's Aug. 30 opener at Virginia because Mark Sanchez suffered a dislocated kneecap last week. Coach Pete Carroll always short-circuits any summer-long quarterback debate by naming a starter in the spring and he anointed Sanchez, who started three games last year for John David Booty. "The advantage that Mark has had by being around ... just gives him a decisive advantage ...," Carroll said in mid-April. Sanchez's status is described as day to day and he says he hopes to return to practice prior to the opener. Meanwhile, Mustain is in front of the redshirt freshman Aaron Corp. Prior to Sanchez's injury, Mustain said he did not think it was possible to replace Sanchez as the starter for Virginia. However, suppose Mustain gets the start in Charlottesville and does well, completing 18-of-26 for 278 yards and three touchdowns in a romp. Then, the situation is ripe for controversy. An open date after Virginia means more time for speculation and the fact that Ohio State follows the Cavaliers on USC's schedule adds a delicious urgency to the question. The Trojans and the Buckeyes are 2-3 in the coaches' preseason poll and most people believe the Buckeyes will play for the national championship for a third straight year if they beat USC. Even Texas fans with an eye on the national picture might prefer Ohio State-USC over Horns-Hogs. By the way, two tickets on row 90 of the L.A. Coliseum can be had for $800. We all know about the popularity of the No. 2 quarterback, so does Carroll stick with a quarterback who did well in the opener or go back to the quarterback who was No. 1 coming out of spring practice? What if Mustain throws an interception or two and Corp improvises for a couple of scores? The last time Mustain threw an interception in a regular-season game was on his first attempt at South Carolina, and he was benched immediately. At Arkansas, he completed 69-of-132 with 10 TD passes and nine interceptions. Carroll called the injury to Sanchez an "opportunity" and said the important thing is how the players deal with the situation. The Los Angeles Times knocked out a quick profile of each of the young quarterbacks with shortcomings and personal assessments. Mustain, the article said, needs to work on mastering USC's system and terminology so that he does not hesitate on the field. Corp's passes don't always spiral and sometimes he gets greedy, the paper said. "USC puts a premium on a quarterback's ability to manage the offense and hasn't recently encouraged scrambles or called designed running plays. Corp might break the mold." Mustain told the newspaper that he's just trying to learn everything. "It's not going to be much of a competition if I don't know what I'm doing ...," he said. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian said Mustain is probably about where he should be. "It's a little bit frustrating for him right now because some of the stuff is (making) the same mistakes more than once and we've got to get over that hurdle," he said. Corp said he must be consistent. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
