Victory Over Oklahoma Is Unforgettable for USC : Trojans: Defense plays tough all day and offense comes alive in fourth quarter for 20-10 decision, ending seven-game winless streak.

Even during a school-record seven-game winless streak that dated to the middle of last season, USC showed that it could at least compete with some of college football’s best teams.

In the first three quarters Saturday, it did so again.

Then, in the fourth, the Trojans showed they could win.

Getting big plays from quarterback Rob Johnson, flanker Curtis Conway, safety Stephon Pace and linebacker Brian Williams, USC overcame a 10-0 deficit by scoring all of its points in the last 14 minutes of a 20-10 victory over Oklahoma.

The victory was the Trojans’ first since last Oct. 12, when they defeated Washington State, 34-27, at Pullman.

“It’s a feeling I’d forgotten about,” said backup quarterback Reggie Perry, who made an unexpected appearance in the fourth quarter, scoring USC’s last touchdown. “I’d forgotten about winning.”

Pace said he couldn’t remember the last time the Trojans won.

“Our team feels a burden (lifted),” Coach Larry Smith said. “Anytime you go that long without tasting victory, that’s too long. I think this is what we needed to get us going.

“It’s a big, big monkey off all our backs.”

The Trojans put together their strongest defensive effort in more than a year, limiting the Sooners to 201 yards.

Oklahoma quarterback Cale Gundy, under pressure throughout the game, completed only 14 of 32 passes for 153 yards, with two interceptions, and the 13th-ranked Sooners ran for only 48 yards in 29 carries.

Oklahoma’s rushing total was its lowest since Sept. 25, 1982, when the Sooners were limited to 43 yards during a 12-0 loss to USC at Norman that ended Oklahoma’s then-NCAA-record scoring streak at 181 games.

This against a team that had given up an average of more than 250 rushing yards per game during the last six games of its winless streak.

“I think this is what our defense needed,” said Smith, who was concerned when the Trojans (1-0-1) gave up 24 points in the third quarter of a 31-31 tie against San Diego State in their opener two weeks ago. “You can talk about confidence, but it’s more than that. It’s just believing in yourself and believing in what we’re doing is right.

“I told our team all week, ‘I know we’re better than a 31-31 tie. I know we’re a better defensive team than that.’ ”

Until the fourth quarter, however, Oklahoma’s defense was equal to the Trojans’, not allowing USC to advance past the Sooners’ 29-yard line and causing two turnovers that led to scores.

The Sooners’ lead, built on a 42-yard field goal by Scott Blanton 1:05 before halftime and a 25-yard touchdown pass from Gundy to Corey Warren early in the third quarter, was 10-0 with 14 minutes to play.

But then USC managed to “Find a Way to Win,” as a message on the T-shirts they wore under their uniforms had implored them to do.

Conway returned a punt 17 yards and, with 13:58 remaining, hooked up with Johnson on a game-turning 51-yard touchdown pass play.

Streaking down the left sideline, Conway was about five yards behind cornerback William Shankle when he caught Johnson’s pass at about the 15 and carried the ball into the end zone.

“He came off the ball like it wasn’t coming to him . . . and I let him get behind me,” Shankle said of Conway, who had nine catches for 115 yards. “It was a real big turning point for them.

“Before that, they didn’t have nothing going for them.”

Soon after, they had the lead.

With 10:17 remaining, Oklahoma fullback Kenyon Rasheed lost control of a handoff from Gundy and the ball bounced into the secondary.

Pace, taking advantage of a rule instituted this season that allows the defense to advance a fumble, picked it up and, without hesitating, carried it 19 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown.

“The first thing I was thinking was whether I should fall down or not,” Pace said, “but I knew we had to have a play to get our offense going, and if I got one or two yards, I knew it would help them some.”

And when he saw the end zone?

“My eyes got big,” he said.

Rasheed said that Gundy made the handoff too high. “Cale put it up in my chest,” he said.

Suddenly trailing, 14-10, Oklahoma still had a chance.

A personal foul against USC on a punt return gave the Sooners a first down at the Trojans’ 40 with about eight minutes left.

They advanced nine yards, but on fourth and one, tailback Dewell Brewer was stopped for no gain by Williams, who sealed a hole in the right side of the line and pounced on Brewer.

Oklahoma’s last two possessions ended with interceptions. The first, by Pace, led to the Trojans’ last touchdown.

The highlight of a 43-yard scoring drive was a 24-yard run by backup tailback Dwight McFadden, who came to USC from Lawton, Okla. But McFadden was unable to score in three tries from the one-yard line.

Smith brought on Perry, whose erratic play typified his team’s inconsistencies during a 3-8 season last year.

On fourth and two, Perry ran left into the end zone.

“It feels like the weight of the world is off my shoulders, just (because of) that one play,” Perry said.

His coaches and his teammates shared the feeling.

“There was so much pressure on this team,” said Johnson, who completed 17 of 27 passes for 201 yards, leading a Trojan offense that accumulated 342 yards. “It’s a great win. We are a good team. Last year, we were a good team. It just takes games like this to prove it.”

* ALLAN MALAMUD: Trojan football re-emerges after a long absence when a Johnson-to-Conway scoring play sparks a fourth-quarter rally. C7