Joey Johnston

It’s the biggest game of the young college-football season — USC at Ohio State — and it has plenty to say about who wins the national championship.

It’s a tradition-rich matchup in a classic setting.

And it might have the youngest quarterback matchup of any large game in recent memory.

Meet USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley. He turned 19 on Tuesday. Everyone wonders how Barkley, a veteran of exactly one starting assignment, will hold up with 105,000 fans howling at the Horseshoe.

Meet Ohio State sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor. He’s 20. Everyone wonders how Pryor, easing into his first full season as the starter, will deal with the cascading USC defensive pressure, particularly considering Ohio State’s yet-to-be-proven offensive line.

Want to know the truth? The concept of pressure, whether it’s external or internal, doesn’t really apply to guys such as Barkley and Pryor. They’ve been observed, prodded and analyzed throughout their entire young lives.

If anything, they are kindred souls. Barkley was the best prep quarterback in the class of 2009. Pryor was the best prep quarterback in the class of 2008.

The ETA for each player?

When else?

Now!!!!!!

Similar backgrounds, but a different path for each player has been set.

Pryor is Ohio State’s franchise.

Barkley is the latest player in the Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, John David Booty, Mark Sanchez lineage.

Barkley’s role seems safer, a little more conducive to low-pressure growth.

Pryor already is being compared to Vince Young (which must give some indigestion to USC fans).

So who do you like for the future? First, understand there is no wrong answer. Every program in the nation would take either player — and not look back.

But give me Pryor.

Give me a 6-foot-6 magician who glides more than he runs, a guy who creates and improvises, a talent that sometimes only seems confined by the depth of your imagination.

Barkley looks like he’s going to be tremendous. Anybody who was voted Gatorade National Player of the Year — as a high-school junior — would have that potential.

Pryor, though, has the glow of a program-changer, a potential Heisman Trophy winner. He makes mistakes, yes — there was a late interception in the too-close-for-comfort opening win against Navy — but he erases them all with his bursts of brilliance.

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Which brings us to Saturday night’s game.

Pryor might be a glider, but he’s lugging around Ohio State’s recent can’t-win-the-big-one reputation. One of those big ones was last season in Los Angeles, when USC dumped Ohio State 35-3, making it look like child’s play. It was the time when Jim Tressel realized that Pryor’s era needed to begin immediately.

Now the scene shifts to Columbus. This is Ohio State’s moment to erase all of that. This is Pryor’s big-stage opportunity, the chance to put his name closer to that nearly impenetrable Bradford-McCoy-Tebow troika.

Barkley? He’s a true freshman, making his second start. If USC wins and Barkley plays effectively, then the hyperbole machine works in overdrive. If USC loses and Barkley struggles, it’s not out of the ordinary. The kid needs time.

So the pressure is certainly on Ohio State, but specifically on Pryor. This is why he was so highly recruited — and such a symbol of Michigan angst when he chose Ohio State over the Wolverines. He’s supposed to win these games. He’s supposed to be the star.

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Pryor, painted as a runner not a thrower, has been eager to show off his game. By defeating USC, without seeming too melodramatic, Pryor could set in motion the rest of his quarterbacking life.

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I say Pryor is up to this task. It’s another mile marker in his career progress and he’ll elevate his game at the big moment.

If you’re betting futures, Barkley and Pryor represent some pretty good investments.

I just happen to like Pryor’s future more.