Who cares about Matt Leinart's fumble when Arash Markazi (behind yard marker) is in the photo? Bill Frakes/SI

By Arash Markazi

Somewhere out there I know my friends Katie and Trisha will shake their heads when they read this. Anytime we get together they ask me what I've been up to, and I usually don't hold back as I go down the list of places I've been and people I've talked to while on various assignments. It usually calls for me to name-drop more than Larry King at a cocktail party.

They've heard about the time I sat next to Steven Spielberg at a movie premiere in Westwood, shared drinks with Amanda Beard at a club in New York and practiced my broken Spanish on Ronaldo in the back of an SUV in Los Angeles. But what happened in South Bend last week topped them all. I mean it's not every day you open up Sports Illustrated and see a picture of yourself in the Leading Off section.

I knew the game would be a classic well before kickoff and it had nothing to do with John Walters wearing his lucky yellow shirt, or Stewart Mandel sporting a new hair cut, or Austin Murphy making an appearance in between talking to super models in exotic locations. You could just sense it. Anyone who was in South Bend last Saturday knew the game would be great. Maybe we didn't know it would end up being the greatest, but it certainly wasn't going to be another 31-point rout for USC, that much was certain.

By now everyone has seen the game and read analysis of what happened so I'll spare you my take on Tom Malone's key 51-yard punt in the fourth quarter and fast-forward to the final five minutes of the game.

The final five minutes were not only important in the context of the game as Notre Dame got the ball back at their 13-yard line, down 28-24, with 5:09 remaining. It was also a key moment for reporters who were permitted at that time to come down from the press box and onto the field to witness the final moments of the game from the sideline.

This is usually the highlight of the game for reporters. After being cooped up in composed, enclosed press box during the game with a monotone announcer reeling of game stats after each play, it's great to get on the field and hear the crowd and watch the demeanor of the players up close. That's usually where the real story is.

I usually stand with the large pack of reporters that come down and wait on the home team's sideline until the game is over. On this day, however, I took the road less traveled. I broke away from the pack and walked around the field to the USC sideline. I figured if this was going to be the Trojans' first loss in two years and the end of their historic run at three straight national titles I wanted to be there to capture their reactions.

After Irish QB Brady Quinn scored to give Notre Dame a 31-28 lead, I walked behind USC's bench and saw a few players, including QB Matt Leinart with slight smirks on their faces as they looked up at the scoreboard and looked around at the raucous crowd. As Leinart would later tell me, "That's why you play football. You dream about moments exactly like that." Leinart's expression was less optimistic after he was sacked on second down setting up a third-and-20 that would precede a fourth-and-9.