It may have looked easy, but USC's run is remarkable

	Senior quarterback Matt Leinart struggled early against UCLA, but the end result was standard: another USC victory. Harry How/Getty Images
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LOS ANGELES -- Four months ago, the USC Trojans opened camp for the 2005 season facing some of the loftiest expectations ever to be placed on a college football team. They were to not only win all their games, but win them decisively. They were to field not just any offense, but the greatest the sport had ever seen. They were to do what no other team had done before them and capture a third straight Associated Press national title.

Take away a 21-3 halftime deficit here, a last-second quarterback sneak there, and everything's gone pretty much as planned.

The scene at the L.A. Coliseum just after dusk Saturday was exactly the way so many envisioned it back in August. As the clock wound down on a 66-19 whitewashing of another helpless opponent, Reggie Bush accepted congratulatory hugs from his parents, brother and random well-wishers on the USC sideline. Matt Leinart ascended a ladder to conduct the Trojans' band in a rousing rendition of Fight On. Rose stems were passed around the field like candy, a symbol of USC's long-anticipated return to the national title game in Pasadena.

This particular helpless opponent, however, happened to be the No. 11 team in the country, arch-rival UCLA (9-1). And the bludgeoning took place on the same field where, just two weeks earlier, USC found itself in a fight to the finish with WAC opponent Fresno State.

Which is why you'll have a hard time convincing anyone in the Trojans' locker room that Saturday's win -- or any of the others in this near-historic run -- was easy.

"Every year it gets harder," said Leinart, an admitted emotional wreck in the early portion of Senior Day, overthrowing one open receiver after another before settling down to throw for his customary 214 yards and three touchdowns. "We take everyone's best shot week-in and week-out, but we proved again what kind of team we are."

As it was preordained, season-long No. 1 USC will once again meet the season-long No. 2 team, Texas, for all the marbles, just as it did Oklahoma in last year's Orange Bowl. Surprisingly, Trojans coaches and players weren't talking much after Saturday's game about the Longhorns -- who conducted their own impressive butt-kicking against Colorado in the Big 12 title game.

"We've got a month before our next game; we're not worrying about that right now," said USC guard Fred Matua. "This is history we're part of. We worked hard all year and it's nice to be able to sit back and put things in perspective."

Say what you want about the level of competition or USC's seemingly endless stockpile of talent. The reality is, in an era when it's harder than ever before for powerhouse programs to remain consistently dominant (see Nebraska, Florida State, et al.), the Trojans are a win away from attaining an achievement of epic proportions. USC only makes it look easy; in reality, a third-straight national title, in this day and age, would be as hard a feat as they come.

You wouldn't have guessed it Saturday, however, when USC asserted its superiority from nearly the opening kickoff in what was unquestionably their most complete performance of the season. Making no secret of their intention to run right at the nation's 115th-ranked rushing defense, the Trojans handed off to Bush or LenDale White on each of their first seven plays. On his second carry, Bush broke outside for a 28-yard gain. On USC's second series, he went for 23. On the third, he raced 65 yards down the left sideline, and you knew it was going to be another huge day for the Trojans' offense.