This Time, Trojans Get a Rattle Before the Hum

Unbeaten, yes. Unbreakable, no.

Stomping through the north woods Saturday like a Bigfoot with cleats, college football’s terror showed a ton of muscle, but not before revealing a bit of myth.

Intimidating, yes. Invincible, no.

USC sent the locals howling and fleeing with a 45-13 victory over Oregon that was part magnificence, part mortality, one big chill.

It was screaming yellow shirts and foghorns and bad Matt Leinart passes and more foghorns and silly Trojan penalties and will somebody please shut up those danged foghorns?

Second-quarter update: Oregon 13, USC zilch.

“You know, we could have lost this game in the first half,” Trojan guard Fred Matua said.

Then it was Reggie Bush running with one shoe and Dwayne Jarrett catching over three helmets and Darnell Bing breaking up four passes and what happened to the foghorn?

Fourth-quarter update: USC 45, Oregon zilch.

“C’mon, we’ve done this before, you know who we are,” defensive end Frostee Rucker said.

We thought we did.

The Trojans are, without debate, a team with 25 consecutive wins that scored on seven straight possessions Saturday and will now be ranked No. 1 for 23 consecutive polls.

But they are also, it turns out, humans, kids, with big ears and dry mouths who can make mistakes and require luck.

This may be a funny time to bring this mortality thing up -- “Didn’t we just beat a good football team 45-13?” asked fullback David Kirtman -- but somebody has to do it.

Because everyone in college football is now thinking it. And the likes of Arizona State, Notre Dame and UCLA will soon be studying it.

The first 21 official minutes of Saturday’s game shined a harsh light, ever so briefly, on a supermodel’s blemish.

These Trojans can be rattled.

There is no other way to describe the first half.

While they trailed, 10-0, it could have been much worse if Oregon had gone for a first down on a fourth and one (instead, it missed a field-goal try) and not been penalized while scoring another touchdown.

With Oregon fans screaming at them from seats seemingly located on their shoulder pads, the Trojans botched a punt play, dropped passes, missed assignments, looked lost.

“We needed to calm down,” said Matua.

Matt Leinart can be shaken.

Afterward everyone talked about his difficulty in gripping the ball -- “It kept slipping out of my hands,” he said -- but early in the game it seemed like he had more difficulty gripping the team.

He threw into coverage, threw over heads, had difficulty calling audibles, and looked about as confused as he has looked since his only defeat as a starter, the loss to California two seasons ago.

At halftime, he was 12 for 25 with as many interceptions -- one -- as touchdown passes.

“Maybe I got out of my rhythm and stuff,” said Leinart, which, translated, means he knows he struggled.

Pete Carroll’s clockwork team can be undisciplined.

This was evident in the first-half penalties, nine for 78 yards, late hits and false starts and an illegal guy downfield and general confusion.

“We kept getting in our own way,” Carroll said.

Maybe it was the noise from the biggest crowd (59,129) in state history. Maybe it was a charged Oregon team looking for the biggest win in school history.

Or maybe it was just USC tripping over its own swagger?

“At halftime, we told everyone in here to stop talking and start walking,” running back LenDale White said. “Stop talking about how good you are and start doing it.”

And so they eventually did, as they seemingly always do, but this time in a different manner.

On a day when their heroes showed their flaw, this game was not about only Bush or Leinart or even Bing, who at one point stopped four consecutive plays.

The Trojans found this day’s focus by following somebody who seemingly never loses it, a guy named David Kirtman.

He’s the unknown running back, the blocker, the body in front of Bush and White. Midway through the second quarter, though, Kirtman found himself catching a screen pass from Leinart with his team needing him to fly.

It was third down. The Trojans trailed, 13-0. He was about 10 yards from a first down. There were three Ducks closing in on him.

Kirtman, not known for his running, sprinted through the open space, directly upon the three tacklers, and then bulled his way through them for the first down.

Five plays later, USC finally scored and the comeback was on.

Kirtman never touched the ball again, but his one moment was his team’s most important.

“I just lowered my shoulder,” Kirtman said.

Eventually, they all did, for which Carroll said will be an eventual blessing.

“This was a great game for us to deal with, because Reggie wasn’t the star, and Matt wasn’t the star, it took everyone’s effort, everyone’s heart,” Carroll said.

And, who knows, maybe by facing failure, no matter how briefly, they will learn more about handling and maintaining success?

Said Jarrett: “No, we weren’t worried at all.”

Said Leinart: “No, not worried, not at all.”

Glad somebody wasn’t.

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