Could Matt Scott Challenge Matt Barkley For Best QB In The Pac-12?

This season Matt Scott, Arizona's quarterback, has already thrown for 707 yards and four touchdowns. He is tied for the most total yards of offense (836) in the nation. Matt Scott's opponent this week: Div. 1-AA South Carolina State (SCSU). South Carolina State is 0-9 all-time vs. FBS schools and has been outscored in those games 319-60. The press in Tucson this week is not even focused on the match-up. Instead, it's addressed story lines such as SCSU's status as a historically black university and Rita Rodriguez's (Rich Rod's wife) famous nacho recipe. That is to say, Arizona is going to run away with this game, and to imagine anything else is a giant stretch of the imagination--even for Arizona fans.

Which brings us back to Matt Scott. Say what you will about the caliber of Arizona's competition this week (or this season), but no matter how you slice it Matt Scott figures to have over 1000 yards of total offense by weeks end, and perhaps even 1000 passing yards. So is Matt Scott the best quarterback in the Pac-12?

Probably not. Currently that honor is Matt Barkley's to lose, no matter what sort of numbers Scott or any other quarterback puts up this season. Moreover, even if Scott and the Wildcats found a way to string together eight or nine wins these season there would be at least eight or nine more pundits to decry Scott's gaudy numbers as merely the product of Rich Rod's spread offense. But don't sleep on Matt Scott.

Don't forget that Scott was the starting QB at Arizona before current Philadelphia Eagles QB Nick Foles took the job from him. He was the high school senior who had 3,578 total yards of offense and 32 total touchdowns. Filling in for an injured Nick Foles two years ago, Scott threw for 691 yards and three touchdowns in three victories against Washington, UCLA, and Washington State. In other words, Scott can play. Moreover, he is a fifth year senior who doesn't figure to be easily overwhelmed by big game circumstances.

So if you're looking for a story this weekend in Tucson, besides a Rita Rodriguez nacho recipe, look no further than Matt Scott who has quietly put up some of the best offensive numbers in the nation through two weeks. After that, look for SCSU to move to 0-10 all time against FBS schools and Arizona to move to 3-0 on the season with an easy win.

The real story in Wildcat land is still a week away when Matt Scott leads an Arizona squad averaging 562 and one half yards per game into Eugene, to wrangle with Puddles and the Ducks. That game promises to be the first of many high scoring affairs between two legends of the spread offense: Rich Rodriguez and Chip Kelly.