Bush, USC, Fresno put on an epic late-night show

	Reggie Bush had a performance for the ages. AP
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By 2:30 a.m. ET Sunday, after more than 14 consecutive hours of televised college football, it was hard to remember that Ohio State and Michigan or Alabama and Auburn even played Saturday. If you're one of the fortunate ones who stayed up 'til the bitter end, who forsook a night at the bars or the movies for a seat on your couch and a remote tuned to Fox Sports Net, your indelible memory of "Rivalry Saturday" will forever involve two non-traditional combatants and a once-in-a-generation running back.

If, however, you're one of the many whose only window to Saturday night's Fresno State-USC game was the box score, you missed a heroic effort by a more-than-legit Bulldogs team that matched the two-time defending national champions blow-for-blow nearly the entire contest. Unlike USC's early-season scares, this was not a case of the Trojans coming out flat and committing a bunch of penalties, or Matt Leinart getting dinged up and throwing interceptions. Fresno State quarterback Paul Pinegar simply came out and attacked USC's long-suspect defense, completing 18 of his first 23 passes to stake the Bulldogs to a 21-10 first-half lead.

That wasn't the remarkable part, though -- we've seen the Trojans fall behind before. After USC went on one of its patented explosions to start the third quarter, intercepting consecutive Pinegar passes, scoring three touchdowns in a three-minute span to go up 34-21 and sending the Coliseum into a frenzy, you figured, "Well, it was fun while it lasted." But unlike most Trojans opponents, Fresno never flinched. Pinegar and running back Wendell Mathis led the Bulldogs down the field to make it 34-28, and, even after a few more setbacks -- including a Pinegar interception in the end zone and a 50-yard Reggie Bush touchdown run (more on that in a second) -- Fresno eventually reclaimed the lead, albeit briefly, 42-41.

If you had tickets to a concert or a poetry reading Saturday night, you also missed one of the greatest all-time individual performances by Bush. I'm not exaggerating. The numbers, as staggering as they were (294 yards on 23 carries; 513 all-purpose yards, shattering Anthony Davis' famous 368-yard school record from the 1972 Notre Dame game), don't even tell the whole story. It was like watching one of those hilarious high-school tapes where some future college star runs roughshod over a bunch of private-school rich kids. Time and again, Bush took a pitch or handoff, broke to the outside, turned on the accelerator and simply blew by the nearest defenders. Excluding the instances when he was tackled, he may not have been hit more than five times the entire game.

The tone for the evening was set on USC's second drive, when the junior dashed 65 yards to the Fresno State 5. It would be one of five plays where he gained 35 or more yards, the most electrifying coming on that aforementioned 50-yard touchdown when Bush broke down the left sideline, changed direction just inches from going out of bounds to dodge defenders and ran clear across the field to finish the score.

For all his heroics, Bush made one gigantic mistake when he coughed up a fourth-quarter kick return at his own 18, setting up Fresno State's go-ahead touchdown, and added to it when he got flagged for slapping an opposing player's helmet on the next kick return, pushing the Trojans' starting position back to their own 11. How did he make up for it? By running for 6 yards on the USC's first play, 19 the next, then catching a Leinart pass for 43 yards to set up a LenDale White touchdown that put the Trojans up 47-42 with 6:22 left.

The way Fresno State was playing, however, the game wasn't in the bag until the Trojans forced two more turnovers, first sacking Pinegar and forcing a fumble at his own 15 (after which the Bulldogs' defense showed tremendous toughness in stuffing Bush twice in a row to force a field goal) and intercepting the Fresno QB in the end zone with 1:25 remaining. Again, the final stats don't do justice to Pinegar (27-of-45, 317 yards, four touchdowns, four interceptions), as none of his four picks were particularly bad throws but rather big plays by USC defenders Darnell Bing (twice), Scott Ware and Brandon Ting.

The game, more than any other in recent memory, made me long for the old days of no "BCS" and "non-BCS" distinctions, when bowls weren't locked into certain conferences. If this were 1985, not 2005, Fresno State would not be playing in the WAC with Utah State and Idaho. It would be an independent, not unlike Florida State once was, free to play games like these nearly every week and eligible for more glamorous postseason destinations than the Liberty or Hawaii bowls.

It also, obviously, makes me rethink my Heisman vote. Last week, in the pages of Sports Illustrated, I regrettably declared that Bush was fading from the race and that Vince Young was the clear front-runner. I've never doubted, however, that Bush's talents are on another stratosphere; his only downfall is that there are weeks when he isn't even the most productive running back on his own team. In the end, voters will have to decide whether USC's ability to rely on other weapons (unlike Texas) detract from Bush's Heisman credentials, or whether performances like Saturday's outweigh all those LenDale/Leinart weeks.

Nonetheless, Texas supporters had to be excited by Saturday night's developments. If Pinegar and the Bulldogs can put up 42 points on the Trojans, what might Young and his cohorts be able to do in Pasadena? No national champion since 1982 Penn State has given up that many points in a game. On the other hand, USC made big plays when it mattered most, producing five second-half turnovers.

My suggestion: Delay the Heisman ceremony by a month, as it's becoming increasingly likely that both the season's best team and player will be decided head-to-head on Jan. 4. As those of us who forsook sleep Saturday night can attest, some things are worth the wait.

To read the rest of Stewart Mandel's Weekend Rewind, including his weekly awards, jump to the next page.