One play away, times three

I'll be going to football games for the rest of my life, and there's a good chance I'll never experience anything like Oct. 15, 2005 ever again. The backdrop of USC's place in history for their current run, combined with the results of the last three meetings and the history of the greatest rivalry in college football, lent itself to impressing on everyone that this game would be something special. It was evident at the pep rally -- attended by 45,000 -- in the parking lots, and especially throughout campus just walking to the stadium. That's a walk I've made dozens upon dozens of times before, but never with the same heightened anticipation.

The game itself, of course, was better than anyone dared imagine. The crowd was into it from the word go -- something that can be rare up in the nosebleeds. When Zbikowski ran the punt back for a TD (right into my corner of the stadium) I couldn't even hear myself scream. USC came out with guns blazing and we took their best shot, and responded in kind. But what made the game even greater was knowing that no matter how much we were up by, or for how long, USC was never out of it. When we got the ball back with about five minutes to go and down four, it was as if everyone knew not only could we score and take the lead, but we would. We just did it too early.

Watching the 4th & 9 play live, it was hard to tell how badly Wooden got beat on the catch. Watching the tape and seeing pictures of the play, it was even closer than I would ever have thought. He was literally inches away in any direction from knocking the pass down and sealing the victory. Then a few plays later Leinart fumbled and I honestly thought we'd won, just because the clock ran down to 0:00. We've recovered two fumbles at the one yard line already this year, and were maybe a different bounce away from grabbing that one and ending it. On the sneak, of course I couldn't tell if he actually got in, but either way I'm glad the replays showed he did rather than it being so close that a ref would have had to mentally flip a coin.

So, naturally, when it finally was over, everyone was stunned and almost unwilling to accept a loss, especially with the way it ended. I think the highest compliment came when USC's sideline went apeshit after the touchdown -- when have they gotten that excited over the last 28 games? They've played some good teams and embarrassed them, which makes our accomplishment even more special, and the loss even more heartbreaking. We were good enough to win, we played well enough to win, and I think everyone will agree that there are many sets of circumstances, some quite small in deviation from actuality, that would have resulted in a win. That's what makes this loss different from any other I've witnessed. We've been clobbered by USC recently, against OSU in '96 we were on their level but faced a few unfavorable matchups, we were happier just to be competitive with Nebraska in '00, the refs screwed us against Colorado in the Orange Bowl, Tennessee outclassed us in '99 and '01, against BC in '93 we were flat and brought it upon ourselves, and of course upset losses to teams like Air Force hurt for entirely different reasons. On this day, we brought our best, we played our best, our best was good enough to win, but so was theirs. It was simply a game of emotion, physicality, strategy, execution, played as well as two top teams can do it -- all the things that combine in perfect amounts about once every 20 years to produce an unforgettable game that leaves both the winners and the losers in tears.