Columbus might have to discover the Trojans now

Two months ago, the idea that USC could play in the national championship game was as wild as a John David Booty pass to Dwayne Jarrett that ...

Wait! He caught it!

One month ago, the notion that USC could be one of the nation’s top two teams was as off-target as a Booty pass to Jarrett that ...

Whoa! He caught another one!

Throughout this strangest of autumns, USC’s chances of winning a national title remained as remote as the idea that the Trojans could beat Notre Dame on Saturday night with Jarrett catching a pass with one hand, catching another pass on one toe, and catching a touchdown pass after crushing a safety.

Which he did, and did, and did.

Thus whittling weeks of convoluted paragraphs into a single sentence:

If the Trojans beat UCLA next week, they will deserve to play Ohio State for the national title, because they just crushed Notre Dame.

In a game that was a metaphor for a season, USC grabbed special from the jaws of ordinary, pulled exceptional out of the flames of enigmatic, made a statement filled with ahhhs.

In front of 91,800 sore-throated Coliseum fans, they showed America that if they are not exactly Mr. Right, they are certainly Mr. Right Now.

Their 44-24 victory over Notre Dame proves that no one-loss team in the country is playing better, later, period.

“A really fun night of football,” said Pete Carroll, running his hands through hair that grows messier every week, tugged out by either euphoria or disbelief or both.

Here’s what he means by fun.

The Trojans outscored Notre Dame by 20 points . . . yet their total yardage was exactly even at 404 apiece.

The Trojans made more turnovers, had more penalty yardage, and gained minus-seven yards in the second quarter ... yet they rushed to a 21-3 lead and were never seriously threatened.

The Trojans won with big plays they weren’t making earlier in the season, big tackles they were once missing, and big efforts that reminded them of big legacies.

“Do I think we can be as good as last year? No, we can be better,” linebacker Oscar Lua said.

Several weeks ago those would have been ridiculous thoughts, but why not?

For all of last year’s greatness, those Trojans lost in the national championship game. These guys, if they get there, will be younger and more resilient and perhaps even more dangerous.

These guys scored their final touchdown on a 42-yard kick return by a defensive end.

Everyone knows that Notre Dame can no longer match USC’s athleticism, but, goodness, when the quick guys on your onside-kick team can’t even catch a 245-pound rumbler like Brian Cushing?

“I saw a special opportunity come along and I just captured it,” said Cushing, who could have been speaking for the entire team.

These guys held on to a lead even after three consecutive second-quarter possessions that ended in a blocked punt and two interceptions.

On Notre Dame’s three ensuing drives, the Irish scored once on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Brady Quinn to Marcus Freeman, but were held to 11 total yards on their other two possessions.

“Really, we’re the same exact defense we’re always been, but a month ago is when we finally realized it,” linebacker Dallas Sartz said.

Perhaps this is because, of the 24 defensive players listed on the game depth chart Saturday, only three are in their final year of eligibility. With this kind of youth, and Pete Carroll’s kind of teaching, you think they might get even better by Jan. 8?

“We made a statement that everyone should hear,” defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis said. “Big players step up in big games, and we have those players.”

These guys, finally, are Dwayne Jarrett’s guys.

After beginning the season with injury and attitude problems, he is finishing with the sort of flourish that would make him one of next year’s Heisman favorites, except Saturday probably finalized his decision to head to the NFL.

This was supposed to be his team, and it finally is, witness Saturday’s seven catches for 132 and three touchdowns and countless saves of an occasionally jittery Booty.

On USC’s opening drive of the second half, he curled in a pass with only his left hand while falling out of bounds. The 19-yard catch was followed, two plays later, by a Chauncey Washington touchdown run that gave the Trojans an 18-point lead.

Said Jarrett, shrugging: “I just stuck my hand out there.”

Said Booty, laughing: “In practice we see him do that, time and time again.”

Said a questioner: “Even a one-handed catch?”

Said Booty: “Twice a week, actually.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, Jarrett made a tiptoe catch on the sidelines for an 18-yard gain. Four plays later, the Trojans kicked a field goal.

Finally, midway through the quarter, Jarrett caught a pass from Booty at the 15-yard line and pounded safety Mike Richardson to the ground before sprinting for the touchdown.

“I just bounced off him,” Jarrett said.

Yeah, just like the Trojans have “just bounced off” the rest of the college football world, applying the hardest of hits at the best of times, the path short, the target clear, a bull’s-eye on the Buckeyes.

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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.