LOS ANGELES -- With all eyes on the USC quarterback race while starter Aaron Corp rests his ailing leg, the Trojans got more bad news at their scrimmage Monday night at the Coliseum. Southern Cal starting center Kristofer O'Dowd, the team's best offensive lineman, went down on the first drive and needed to be helped off the field.
Coach Pete Carroll called the sight "a crusher," and said the 6-foot-5, 300-pound junior suffered a dislocated right knee cap, which is similar to the injury O'Dowd sustained during his freshman year when he was sidelined for four games.
"Obviously, I'm just disappointed as can be about Kris getting hurt," said Carroll. "It looks like he has dislocated his knee cap like he did a couple of years ago. It just depends what it looks like when they take a look at it, if there are any nicks and chunks like they were last time, when it took him a month to get back. We'll just have to wait and see. It was most unfortunate."
O'Dowd is expected to have an MRI on Tuesday.
In 2007, O'Dowd became the first USC true freshman to start a season opener at center. Last year, O'Dowd made the 2008 All-Pac-10 first team and won USC's Offensive Lineman of the Year Award.
O'Dowd was replaced by senior Alex Parsons, who will become the starter.
"We're fortunate to have that kind of depth," said Carroll.
Freshman QB Matt Barkley, challenging Corp for the starting job, struggled early and finished 5-for-18 on the night.
"It was a little tough at first," said Barkley. "They weren't giving us a lot. I had to throw a lot of balls away and check down a lot. But I think things started to open up after we started doing that."
Bruce Feldman is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.