By Arash Markazi

Now I'm not going call any players out, but if anyone on the USC sideline tells you that they didn't have serious doubts about winning the game at this point, they're lying. "I won't lie," Bush would later fess up. "For the first time I wasn't sure if we could do it." Considering the way Leinart was throwing the ball, the handful of drops the receivers had, the way Notre Dame's defense had been playing and the deafening sound of the crowd, USC looked like it only had two chances at converting a fourth-and-9: slim and none.

I stood right beside former Michigan great Desmond Howard for the play and he looked like he was one step away from grabbing a helmet and running onto the field. "This is it," he kept saying. "This is the game." As Leinart threw the pass to Dwayne Jarrett the entire USC sideline held its collective breath as it sailed past the outstretched hand of cornerback Ambrose Wooden and into Jarrett's waiting arms.

After the 61-yard reception gave USC a first down at Notre Dame's 13-yard line, I walked over to the official holding the down marker and stood next to him as I jotted notes on my notebook. Looking at them now, they are so illegible and unhelpful I don't even know why I took any. Here's a sampling. Big pass to Jarrett...crowd is going crazy...USC sideline jumping up and down...Will USC go for the win or the tie? Yeah, hard-hitting stuff I know. I love, by the way, that I wrote myself a question. Maybe I should have saved a space for the answer that would come later.

Three plays later, I would witness one of the biggest plays in USC's history from about six feet away. With 23 seconds remaining and no timeouts left, I watched as Leinart dropped back to pass, rolled left and attempted to run for the winning touchdown before getting blasted by Corey Mays, who popped the ball loose and out of bounds, hitting my knee at about the 2-yard line.

That's the picture that appears in SI this week. I'm the dude with the gray SNL sweatshirt and jeans next to the down marker guy. Some of my friends have asked me what I was thinking during the play and the only thing I can remember is wondering why Leinart was running towards the goal line with no timeouts and two defenders in front of him. In the end, it turned out to be a great play as Leinart snuck the ball in on the next play and kept USC's streak and hopes for a threepeat alive.

A few final thoughts on the game's ending:

• There should be no controversy about time being put back on the clock at the end of the game. After Leinart fumbled the ball out of bounds, I looked up at the clock after the ball hit my leg and there was still nine seconds remaining. Despite the ball laying out of bounds and out of play, and one official waving his arms to signal the clock to stop, the clock continued to run. I'm still not sure what game the game clock manager was watching.

• I don't buy the belief that if Leinart didn't fumble he would have been stopped short of the goal line and the game would have been over. He was about to stretch the ball out when it was knocked out of his hands and when he came down he landed in the end zone. I think if Leinart holds on to the ball, he scores the winning touchdown.

• If I were a Notre Dame fan I wouldn't be upset about the "Bush Push" because it looked like Leinart was going to fall down into the end zone anyway with all the room that was open after he had rolled over to his left.

What I would be upset about is assistant coach Brennan Carroll, Pete's son, leaving the coaches box and standing in front of me on the field as he signaled for a timeout to the officials as the clock ran out. The officials would have been well within their right to flag Carroll and penalize the team, not just for him being out of the box and on the field, but also for calling a time out the team did not have. If that happened, we're looking at a field goal attempt and a possible overtime, not a game-winning quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line.

• Despite winning 28 straight games, and 38 of their last 39, including two consecutive national championships, the Trojans have never shown more emotion than they did after Leinart's game-winning touchdown. Players were crying and hugging each other on the field and on the sideline as they tried to catch their breath. "It was the greatest feeling of my career," Bush said. "Easily the best win I've ever had." And easily the best game I've ever seen.