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MIAMI -- With two minutes remaining in an Orange Bowl game that was decided in the first half, Pete Carroll did what many Oklahoma fans had much earlier --turned away from the field. He couldn't help but hear the bellowing sound of defensive line coach and soon-to-be Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron barking orders near the team bench.

As Orgeron looked down at a grease board, All-American defensive linemen Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson looked at each other, shook their heads and smiled. Carroll then put his arms around Cody and Patterson and watched Orgeron plead with his men to stay in the game as they held a precarious 55-19 lead.

"What are you doing," Carroll yelled. "Writing down your [bleeping] address so they can keep in touch with you?"

Orgeron didn't look up.

"Look at this guy coaching every second," Carroll shouted.

Carroll grabbed "Coach O," who proceeded to bear hug Carroll, pick him up and bring him down to the ground. It was the first time Carroll had been taken down in over a year and probably the last time he'll go down for some time.

While analysts were touting the similarities between USC and Oklahoma heading into Tuesday's national championship game -- calling it one of the best matchups of all time -- USC players knew better. They came into the game carrying the confidence of a student who knew all the answers to the final exam. They knew that if they followed the game plan that Carroll and offensive coordinator Norm Chow had worked on for close to a month then they would not only win, but they would win going away.

Although the players said all the right things before and after the game, many privately said they would win big as they made final preparations two days before the game. "Don't be surprised," said one Trojan. "We're going to win big and party big after. Just watch."

That was about all that Oklahoma players could do during the Orange Bowl. While the final score read 55-19, it could have been a lot worse if the Trojans hadn't called the off dogs on a Sooners squad that has been known to run up the score on the Baylors of the world. "I don't know how bad the score would have been if we had kept our first team in there the whole game," said USC tight end Alex Holmes.

Heading into the locker room, USC tailback LenDale White, who rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, made sure to quote one of the great philosophers of our time when asked to put the win and the season in perspective.

"It's like Jay-Z says," White said. "Get it right, did it different, did it better, did it nice. Did the impossible, then did it twice."

South Beach Shots

•  I was hoping Oklahoma tailback Adrian Peterson could help me find a good club to go to on Sunday night when I saw him at media day, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't remember the name of the club he hit up when he first got into town. "It was in Coconut Grove, I think," he said. "It was real nice though, real chill." After getting the VIP treatment at some of the hottest clubs during 2004, including New York's Marquee after the Heisman Trophy ceremony, Peterson admitted the best club scene is in Los Angeles. "I'm definitely going back there," he said. After bumping into P. Diddy and Leonardo DiCaprio at the Spider Club, a club-within-a-club at the Avalon in Hollywood, during his recruiting trip to USC, who could blame him.

•  The official anthem of Miami has to be Daddy Yankee's Gasolina. I didn't go a minute without hearing that song on the radio or at a club. That said, I still don't understand a word of it.

•  When USC players first found out they were heading to the Orange Bowl, the first thing most upperclassmen said was, "I hope we stay at the Westin Diplomat." The school didn't disappoint its players, putting the team up in the same swanky hotel it stayed at two years ago when it beat Iowa 38-17. "It's an amazing hotel," linebacker Dallas Sartz said. "You can watch TV while you take a bath. I didn't, but I could have."

•  Ashlee Simpson easily received the loudest boos from an Orange Bowl crowd that was generally quiet after halftime. Little known fact: The Simpsons are good friends with Matt Leinart. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have had Leinart over at their place before and Lachey attended one of USC's practices at Nova Southeastern University before the Orange Bowl.

Last Shot

As good as things look for USC right now, they have the potential of turning very bad, very fast. If San Francisco gives its native son -- and former defensive coordinator -- Carroll a lucrative offer to make him its next head coach and general manager, Carroll could be gone. Leinart may also end up joining his coach in the Bay Area as the first overall pick after he officially announces he will enter the NFL Draft next week.

If Carroll were to leave the Trojans he would likely try to bring along many of his assistants, including Chow, who is a candidate to take over the same post with the Baltimore Ravens. Interestingly enough, if Carroll were to leave, USC athletic director Mike Garrett likely would turn to recently fired 49ers coach Dennis Erickson to take over the Trojans. Erickson was the school's first choice to take over the team when Garrett fired Paul Hackett at the end of the 2000 season, but Erickson, who was coaching Oregon State at the time, turned them down.