After practice on Wednesday, Arizona linebacker Michael Barton had a lot on his mind.
Barton is a Bay Area native — from Richmond, California — and a die-hard fan of all the San Francisco teams. On Tuesday night, he watched the San Francisco Giants blow a 3-run lead in the ninth inning of a playoff game, losing 6-5 at home to the Chicago Cubs, ending their season.
Barton was still fuming by Wednesday morning, and wasn’t all too pleased with Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who took pitcher Matt Moore out after eight strong innings.
“That game pissed me me off,” Barton said. “Man, four runs in the ninth? Matt Moore pitched a gem. That was Bochy’s fault. He should’ve kept Moore in the game. I guess you can’t blame him if guys can’t get three outs to win the game, in the most important game of the season.”
“Oh well. Whatever. I’m over it.” he said, starting to smile. “The Warriors start soon. Let’s beat USC.”
That’s nothing more than an off-field distraction. On it, Barton is set to take on a larger role the rest of the season with the loss of senior leader Cody Ippolito, who will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
Barton, a senior graduate transfer from California, was already splitting time with both Ippolito in the middle and Paul Magloire on the weak side. Now, Barton is expected to fill Ippolito’s shoes, with the help of back-up Jake Matthews.
Barton has amassed 38 tackles, 4ƒ for loss and one sack in six games this year.
“Cody was a great leader out there,” Barton said. “He got everybody in position, he made great plays, but now guys including myself just have to step up more and fill the void. It’s next guy up.
“I know Paul (Magloire) is going to step up, Jake is going to step up. John (Kenny) is going to continue to step up. Having DeAndre’ (Miller) back is going to help us a lot. We have a group of guys that can play and I know our guys are going to be ready to go.”
Beyond that, Barton is extra motivated going up against USC. He always is, saying he’s played some of his best games against the Trojans. In two games against them with Cal, Barton had 19 tackles and one sack, but lost both games.
“I’ve grown to hate USC a lot throughout my college career, that doesn’t change,” Barton said. “I have some friends on there, I played high school with Michael Hutchings, but I never had a like for them. Them being L.A. and me being from the Bay Area, we always had a natural rivalry.”
