LOS ANGELES — Don’t let Matt Barkley’s icy exterior fool you.

Although USC’s freshman quarterback invariably appears cool and positive on camera and on the field, he despises losing as much as anyone.
“I hate losing,” Barkley said Tuesday, two days after USC’s 47-20 defeat at Oregon.
“It’s really terrible to see a team go down like that. It kills me inside. You try your best not to show it.”
Barkley hadn’t been on the losing end of a game he started since his final appearance at Mater Dei High School.
That was almost a year ago, but Barkley remembered how to handle it. Like the rest of his teammates, he has moved on to Arizona State.
“It (stinks) to see people say you don’t care about it if you’re not struggling over it, but we know there’s nothing we can do about it,” Barkley said. “I was mad on Saturday, mad on Sunday, but just realized come Monday that we’ve got a whole new ballgame to play.”
This week’s trip to Tempe, Ariz., marks USC’s final road game of the 2009 season, and its sixth away game in nine contests overall. Barkley will have started five of them, and those experiences only will make him better.
“There’s never going to be a more challenging road season as the one we’ve had,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “He knows that there’s no situation that can affect the way he performs.
“These were enormous opportunities for him to grow. And he has.”
INJURY UPDATE
Here’s USC’s injury report as of Tuesday night, when the players saw team doctors after practice:
Out: LB Malcolm Smith (shoulder), WR David Ausberry (leg), S Drew McAllister (hip).
Questionable: TE Anthony McCoy (ankle), DE Nick Perry (shoulder), LB Jarvis Jones (neck).
Expected to play: DE Everson Griffen (toe), RB Joe McKnight (knee), RB Allen Bradford (knee), WR
Damian Williams (glute), FB Stanley Havili (shoulder), DL Armond Armstead (wrist).
All of the players listed above were either limited or did not practice Tuesday.
NOTES
C.J. Gable took most of the first-team reps at tailback with McKnight and Bradford unavailable. ...
Linebacker Chris Galippo (neck) and receiver Ronald Johnson (illness) returned to practice after sitting out Monday. ... Center Kristofer O’Dowd, demoted two weeks ago after struggling to regain his form because of a knee injury, is moving much better and could get some playing time at Arizona State. ... Former starting quarterback Aaron Corp worked with the scout team because usual scout-team QB Garrett Green was needed at wide receiver.