Sitting on a bench outside Heritage Hall on a warm late-summer day, Matt Barkley told me he would leave the USC early for the NFL only if he finished his junior season strong.

"I want to put myself in a position to go out with a bang," he told me.

Nearly three months later, on a chilly fall Friday night in the mountains, Barkley's play continued to make a noise so distinct, there is only way to describe it.

Bang! Barkley threw a school-record six touchdown pass in a 42-17 victory over Colorado. (MORE>>>)

USC football coaches took their seats on the Andrew Luck Hype Wagon this week, with Lane Kiffin calling the Stanford redshirt junior "one of the best ever to play," and his dad, Monte, who coached for 25 years in the NFL, calling Luck "one of the top quarterbacks ever."

Not long ago, ESPN columnist Rick Reilly suggested that NFL teams soon will begin tanking games so they can angle for Luck with the No. 1 overall pick.

"Luck is so indescribably good, I fully expect somebody to lose in their bye week," Reilly wrote. (MORE>>>)