USC Stunned in a South Bend Minute : Notre Dame: Becton’s 70-yard run on second play from scrimmage puts Trojans in a hole.

When you’re playing a football team that your team has beaten 10 consecutive times, one of the best things you can do is jar that other team with a quick punch. That pretty well establishes who’s boss.

And that’s just what Notre Dame’s junior tailback, Lee Becton, did Saturday to USC.

Becton, at 6 feet and 190 pounds a compact tooling along behind moving vans, began the second play from scrimmage at his 30-yard line by taking a handoff from quarterback Paul Failla for what looked to be quite an ordinary run off left tackle.

He finished it about 10 seconds later by tumbling into the end zone, the tumble courtesy of a too-late tackle by cornerback Jason Sehorn.

And Becton’s 70-yard run at that early juncture was a stunner, a tone-setter. It didn’t win the game for the Irish, but it definitely established who was boss. After that, Notre Dame’s 11th victory in a row over USC was only 59 minutes 5 seconds of playing time away.

And it was such a simple play.

“It was just our regular off-tackle power play,” Becton said. “But everybody blocked it well at the line and I got a great block from Lake Dawson downfield (on Jason Oliver). I wasn’t touched at all (going through the line).”

Becton said he could sense Sehorn running him down but also said he knew Sehorn wasn’t going to get to him fast enough.

“I knew when I got to the 10, I could get in,” he said.

And so, with the game less than a minute old, the Trojans were trying to skate uphill. Unsuccessfully, as it turned out.

“I just looked up and the guy was gone,” USC defensive tackle Willie McGinest said. “We got off track and it hurt us.”

No one among the Irish, save Becton himself, was more pleased with the quick strike than Failla, the junior quarterback filling in for Kevin McDougal, who sat out the game because of a strained shoulder.

“Two plays and we’re up 7-0,” Failla said. “That takes the pressure off. It was a good ice-breaker. After that I took a deep breath and said, ‘We’re going to be all right.’ ”

After that, the Irish were more than all right. They played a nearly perfect first half, scoring on every possession, converting all eight of their third-down plays.

Even Coach Lou Holtz, who after eight victories in eight games still is saying that the second-ranked Irish aren’t a good football team, was moved to observe, “It was an outstanding first half, offensively. . . . (Becton’s run) was a tremendous spark for us. We’re going against the wind and it jumps us up 7-0.

“Lee’s coach and some other people from his high school (in Emul, N.C.) were here today, so I knew he was going to play well.”

Becton probably played better than he ever has before, finishing with 177 yards in 20 carries, a pass reception for 35 yards and the game’s most valuable play.

Did all that impress him? Well, sort of.

“Yeah, I’d have to say it’s one of my better games,” he said. “I played well without the ball.”

He played well without the ball? What about what he did with it?

“Yeah, well, it’s a big rivalry,” he said. “We’ve got a streak going here and we didn’t want to break the streak. We just wanted to keep it going.”

So Becton did what he could to get the Irish off to a quick start. And the Trojans never got back to even.