Trojans End Up One Big Play Short : USC: A crowded end zone proves the difference between a share of the Pac-10 title and defeat.

Running back Estrus Crayton rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown, flanker Curtis Conway caught five passes for 69 yards, and threw one for a touchdown as well, and special teams player Hector Zuri blocked a punt that gave the Trojans a free touchdown.

But at the end, with the game on the line, it fell to Rob Johnson, USC’s sophomore quarterback, to beat UCLA.

And he came this close.

In the last three minutes, with UCLA leading, 38-31, he took his team 69 yards to the touchdown the Trojans had to have, twice completing fourth-down passes to keep the drive smoking, then scrambling 12 yards for a first down at the Bruin one-yard line, then finally sneaking over for the touchdown that put the Trojans only a two-point conversion from a stunning comeback victory, a share of the Pac-10 title and a bowl bid.

Only a two-point conversion?

The one-pointers, the kicks, are the automatics. The two-pointers? They make college football unpredictable because they themselves are unpredictable. But Johnson and the Trojans, as any self-respecting football team would have done in that situation, gave it a shot.

And missed.

And lost, 38-37.

The play selected by Coach Larry Smith was a pass to tight end Yonnie Jackson, a play that had worked only minutes before on the first of the fourth-down completions.

“We tried to sneak our tight end over there,” Smith said.

Right, said Johnson, although that wasn’t the play he was thinking about.

“I thought we were going to sprint out and give me an option,” he said.

Not this time.

“It was supposed to be a delay to the tight end,” Johnson said. “It was really crowded in there and I thought I could get it in there. If he was really covered, I was going to go to Curtis.”

In this case, that might have been the thing to do, because Conway was open in the end zone. But, as Johnson pointed out, it was crowded down there, and he thought he could get the ball to Jackson.

“I didn’t look for Curtis,” he said.

So he bet the bundle on the throw to Jackson. And sagged when linebacker Nkosi Littleton knocked it down. No comeback victory, no Pac-10 title share, no bowl bid, at least for the moment. That will change if the Trojans beat Notre Dame next weekend.

“I wanted to win this game real bad,” Johnson said.

So, of course, did Smith.

“I’m angry,” Smith said. “I’m very angry. We had a shot at it, and we blew it. We have nobody to be mad at but ourselves.”

Easy to understand how a coach might feel that way after watching his team squander a 31-17 lead in less than a quarter, on some of the unlikeliest UCLA plays.

Who would have thought UCLA’s John Barnes and J.J. Stokes would connect on a 29-yard touchdown pass on third and five?

And who would have thought that same combination would shred USC’s defense with a 59-yard play to the USC seven on its next possession?

“It was a game of big plays and gambling and they got the best of us,” Smith said. “UCLA won and we lost. It’s that simple.”