1-Track Minds / Trojan-Sooner BCS title matchup, finally here after season-long anticipation, may be most star-studded college football game ever

The whisper twists around the ears like a cold Berkeley wind:

USC can lose this game. The thought tugs at the skin like a wet Pullman chill:

USC can lose this game.

No longer restrained by politics or protocol, the Trojans are expected to finally make it official tonight, beating Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the national college football championship, a belated coronation for a program that has been the best for the last three seasons.

Except for one thing:

USC can lose this game.

It can lose because, ask any scout with a stopwatch and VCR, Oklahoma has better pro prospects.

It can lose because, check out the bowl results, Oklahoma played a tougher schedule.

It can lose because, the last time the Trojans played, everyone saw what Larry Birdine saw.

“We saw the UCLA game; UCLA played those boys good,” said the Oklahoma defensive end. “And we’re a lot better than UCLA.”

And he said this after he’d been scolded by his coach for making outrageous comments.

You know this is what his teammates must be thinking.

You could almost hear them tittering in the film room.

Said linebacker Lance Mitchell: “We watch their tapes, see all those Pac-10 guys flopping all over the field, it makes you sick.”

Oklahoma is thinking that the Trojans have yet to face a running back like Adrian Peterson, and remembering how bowl-losing Cal and Notre Dame steamrollered them for a combined 352 yards rushing.

Said Mitchell: “They haven’t seen our toughness yet.”

Oklahoma is thinking the Trojan offense hasn’t faced a defense this quick, one that limited Texas’ 38-point-Rose-Bowl offense to zero points for the first time in more than two decades.

Said Birdine: “In speed, we have the edge.”

Oklahoma is thinking that, for all the hype surrounding USC, the Sooners have already played in two national-title games in the previous four years. The Sooners have already hoisted the crystal ball once. The Sooners truly fight on.

“There’s not another OU out there anywhere,” defensive lineman Lynn McGruder said.

That’s what they’re thinking.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

Perfect.

This is the perfect spot for the Trojans to triumph over the imperfect system.

This is precisely whom they must play, where they must play and how they must play to gain the credit that has been clearly denied them.

They can’t play an Auburn-come-lately. They have to play an Oklahoma team that has denied them a title spot before.

The game can’t be in the Rose Bowl. It has to be on what will clearly be Sooner turf in the Orange Bowl, the place where Oklahoma won its most recent title.

And it can’t be a game of chess. It has to be a game of crunch.

Such is the burden of West Coast teams that, no matter how well they perform under bright lights, are not considered champions until they win in a dark alley.

The basketball world wouldn’t truly accept the Lakers’ Showtime dynasty until they beat the Boston Celtics.

The boxing world wouldn’t universally embrace Oscar De La Hoya until he survived Fernando Vargas.

The baseball world needed the Dodgers to beat the Yankees.

And the college football world won’t buy this latest USC era until the Trojans beat Oklahoma.

“We know what people think,” Trojan guard John Drake said. “But we also know who we are.”

The rest of us will certainly find out.

The last time they played a Big 12 team in a hostile environment, the Trojans lost at Kansas State.

Their other two losses in the last three years were on the road, odd ducks in Berkeley and Pullman, Wash.

Each of those games was accompanied by questions that cut to the heart of a potential dynasty. Three years of questions that tonight will be answered in four hours.

Is Pete Carroll truly the country’s best collegiate head coach and defensive strategist?

If he can outmaneuver celebrated Bob Stoops -- who is 21-4 against ranked teams -- then he must be.

Is Norm Chow truly the country’s best coach who is not a head coach?

If he can find a way to get Reggie Bush loose against a defense that gave up one touchdown in its final 14 quarters, there can be no question.

If Matt Leinart can overcome the distractions that have made the Heisman Trophy jinx a reality, then he’s made of bronze.

If the undersized Trojan defense can stop Peterson, they will be forever huge.

If the anonymous Trojan defensive backs can figure out Jason White, they will be forever remembered.

If Ryan Killeen can out-kick Garrett Hartley ... well, he’d better out-kick Garrett Hartley.

Killeen has made 49 field goals. Hartley has made none.

Hartley is an Oklahoma freshman who was recently given the job when Stoops grew fed up with his inconsistent predecessor.

That the kid would be placed in the position of winning a national title when his most recent field-goal attempt was a miss that eventually cost his team a high school state championship ... what is Stoops thinking?

Well, we pretty much know by now:

USC can lose this game.

Making it possibly the greatest night in Trojan history if, or when, they don’t.

*

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous Plaschke columns, go to latimes.com/plaschke.