Fog clears, revealing a grown-up USC

Early Saturday evening here, a strange and surprising fog spilled into the giant bowl on Figueroa, clouding up the Southern California sky, obscuring the pristine green field, shrouding a struggling USC football team.

Then, just as quickly, the muck was gone.

And, just as stunningly, everything became clear.

This is still the Coliseum. These are still the Trojans. Those two fingers still point toward a national championship.

The fog lifted and USC soared, winning the war of the roses by pummeling them into cactus.

Pasadena today, Arizona in January? The Trojans are two wins from taking what is becoming their annual trip of a lifetime after a Pac-10 title-clinching 23-9 victory over California.

The Rose Bowl is now in their pocket. The national title game in Glendale, Ariz., is now within their reach. After the way they finished Saturday, there’s no way they’re leaving that sucker on the table.

A fullback kicked a 49-yard field goal.

“I was obviously nervous and all that stuff,” said David Buehler, whoever he is.

An enigmatic wide receiver caught a touchdown pass that he didn’t know was a touchdown pass because he was seeing stars.

“I don’t know how I held on to it, seriously, because once I caught it, I blacked out,” said Dwayne Jarrett.

An inconsistent quarterback threw a fourth-down touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver who was his third option.

“I was just like, ‘Oh gosh, just don’t throw it over his head,’ ” said John David Booty of Steve Smith.

And, oh yeah, the slowly evolved USC defense held the streaking Cal offense to 96 total second-half yards.

“We picked a pretty good time to grow up,” said linebackers coach Ken Norton.

Pete Carroll screamed, Will Ferrell partied, more than 91,000 fans flamed hotter than the torch, and Lawrence Jackson stood in his sweat-darkened No. 96 and sighed.

“Yeah, we’re glad to get the Rose Bowl, but we’re not stopping at the Rose Bowl,” he said. “We want to take this thing a little bit farther.”

No matter what you might read today about the attributes of hearty Michigan in the wake of their close loss to Ohio State, understand this.

If USC can beat Notre Dame Saturday, and beat UCLA the following week, no one-loss team will have finished the season with a more impressive schedule.

The Trojans would have had four wins against top-25 teams.

Michigan has had two such wins.

If Florida also ends the season with one loss, it will have beaten only three top-25 teams.

Carroll is wearing his annual goofy, “BCS? What’s a BCS?” grin, but don’t be fooled. He knows the stats. He knows the stakes.

He was so concerned about getting a lead Saturday, he actually went conservative on fourth down for the first time in his adult life, choosing to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line in the first quarter.

“That was Coach’s call,” said offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin with a grin.

Carroll knows under the BCS system, it’s not about margin of victory, just victory.

“They will put us where they put us,” Carroll said Saturday of the BCS. “But I know we play a great schedule and we’re winning.”

The Trojans might be eight-point underdogs against Ohio State. But the way they played the final 33 minutes Saturday, don’t bet against them.

After Buehler’s kick tied the score at 9-9 late in the third quarter -- the first college field goal attempt for the Trojans’ designated long ball hitter -- the hammering began.

Cal gained nine yards on a first-down run by DeSean Jackson on the ensuing drive, but then Oscar Lua stuck his veteran hand on two consecutive smothering tackles that kept the Bears from getting a first down.

Two Trojan possessions later, the game was over.

“It’s starting to feel like we’re on a roll,” Lua said. “It’s starting to feel like it’s going to be really hard for us to lose.”

The feeling emerged at the start of the fourth quarter when Jarrett, with Thomas Decoud hanging on his back and Bernard Hicks slamming into his belly, caught a perfectly threaded 25-yard pass from Booty.

“I heard the crowd roar, I heard a collision, then I didn’t hear anything,” said Jarrett, who fell into the end zone in a heap. “When I woke up, I knew I still had the ball.”

After the Trojans defense held the Bears to two yards on the next drive, Booty drove the offense to the Cal 37-yard line, where they faced fourth-and-two.

Timeout called. Crotchety old Carroll wanted to punt. Kiffin and assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian screamed into his ear for a pass.

“Both at the same time,” said Carroll.

So Booty passed, but he didn’t only pass, he looked

to two receivers before he passed.

Steve Smith had sneaked through the right side of the line and was wide open. By being patient, Booty found him. Touchdown, and it wasn’t even close.

That roar you heard from the press box was Kiffin.

“That’s about as excited as I’ve been about one play since I’ve been here,” Kiffin said. “To see John David become the kind of quarterback who can make that pass, that’s something.”

And to see USC become the kind of team that can win this game? That’s something else.

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