They Make Sure It’s Not Over-Time

Game over. Streak over. History over.

Checking the timer, peering in on the oven that was Sun Devil Stadium, I thought the USC football team was finally, unquestionably, thoroughly cooked.

And I wasn’t the only one.

“It was over with, no doubt in my mind,” Arizona State end Jamaal Lewis said. “We walked into the locker room at halftime and thought we had won.”

The Trojans trailed by 18 points. Their quarterback was loopy. Their defense was wasted. Their shine was sunburned.

“Looking into their eyes, I could tell, they were scared,” Sun Devil linebacker Dale Robinson said. “Their quarterback looked woozy. I was talking to them and they weren’t talking back. They had none of that pizazz.”

It was over.

And then, of course, it wasn’t.

When will I learn? When will everyone learn?

On a Saturday they will remember with the sharpness of a leg cramp, in a game that will forever catch in throats like a gasp, the Trojans taught another lesson that resounded.

It pounded like a running back to the mouth. It crunched like a linebacker to the ribs.

It was a lesson best explained afterward by linebacker Oscar Lua as he stood in a gray T-shirt that sweat had stained black.

“This team will go through hell and back before it takes a loss,” he said.

Thus was their journey Saturday, a trip like none other in the Pete Carroll era, through humility and past mortality and ending in a 38-28 victory that even taught the Trojans.

“It’s amazing to me how mentally strong we are,” guard Fred Matua said. “It’s incredible.”

It was their biggest comeback in 31 seasons.

It was, after 26 consecutive classroom sessions, a lesson finally learned.

“They’re not losing this year, not now,” ASU’s Robinson said, shrugging. “After what they got through today, they’re going unbeaten.”

He will have no argument from me, or, clearly, anybody in that Trojan locker room.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” said Matua, staring at the hundreds of paper cups and piles of chilled towels that littered the sidelines. “It shows it’s going to take a lot more than this to beat us.”

On this day, it took more than Matt Leinart failing to complete a touchdown pass for only the second time in 30 games as a starter.

“I don’t know if I was all there the whole game,” said Leinart, who was knocked to the sidelines for two plays after absorbing a late hit.

It took more than 85 yards of knucklehead penalties combined with extraordinarily bad special teams work -- one stretch of nine plays included five penalties and a Sun Devil punt return for a touchdown.

“No matter how good you are, you can’t perform if you keep killing yourself,” Carroll said.

It took more than a blown replay call that cost them a long Reggie Bush reception, a couple of timeouts blown for exhaustion and miscommunication, and two failed fourth-down conversion attempts.

“The whole group was sloppy,” Carroll said.

And, of course, it took more than that 21-3 halftime score, the Trojans’ biggest deficit during the winning streak and one that led to the following locker room coaching announcement.

“LenDale and Reggie? It’s time.”

LenDale White repeated the words later with a huge sweaty smile.

“When I heard that, in my heart, I got ready,” he said.

After spending much of their first three games playing video football, one circus play after another, the new Trojan offensive brain trust finally decided to return to the philosophy that Norm Chow used to build that offense.

Establish a rhythm with the run. Set up the bombs with short passes. Between the tackles, during the toughest of times, give the darn ball to White.

“Our coaches are smart guys,” said White, still grinning.

The first drive after halftime was all short passes and runs, White finishing it with a 32-yard rumble for a touchdown.

Their next scoring drive was three runs in four plays, ending in Bush’s 24-yard touchdown run.

The Trojans took the lead in the fourth quarter with an 11-play drive that included eight rushes and a 42-yard pass play to fullback David Kirtman, who keeps showing up at the darndest times.

Then, after Arizona State scored, the Trojans regained the lead for good with a drive that featured zero wide receivers and ended with Bush’s 34-yard touchdown run.

Oh, yeah, White’s 46-yard run clinched it.

“Today let us know that we have one heartbeat,” Lua said.

That was also true with the defense, countless big tackles, Lua ending one fourth-down play all by himself, guys like Lawrence Jackson and Frostee Rucker and Sedrick Ellis growing up before our eyes.

Not to mention, the curious, patchwork secondary had four of the team’s five interceptions.

“Everyone wants to criticize our secondary, but we have the best secondary in the country hands down,” said John Walker, whose late pick ended it.

Maybe they’re not really the best, not yet, but they are certainly part of the country’s best team, which never seems to wilt under the country’s best coach, and truly seems to have but one formidable opponent remaining.

“The only team that can beat us,” Jackson said, “is us.”

Game on. Streak continued. History beckons.