Fresno State was a tougher opponent than Notre Dame. They played hard, and while USC had an excuse of playing in a hostile Notre Dame stadium against ND, they had no such excuse last night against Fresno State at home.

The Bulldogs were ahead quickly and were able to stop the mighty Trojan offense in the first half. But as usual, I was hopeful that the half time magic of Pete Carroll changes things.

And change it did! From 21-13 down at half time, USC quickly jumped to be ahead 41-28. At that time, I started relaxing and assumed that everything is going to be ok and USC is going to have another second half blowout just like some of the earlier road games.

No sir. Fresno State had other plans. They came back with a TD and on the ensuing kick off #5 fumbled inside his own 20! And how expensive was that? It took only one play for Fresno to come back and regain the lead.

Being down 42-41 in the fourth quarter started making me nervous, especially because Fresno was able to score at will. But USC went through a quick drive and scored a quick TD. Went for 2 and did not get it.

Now, I was even more nervous. What if they take up all the time and score with no time remaining? But once again the defense stepped up and created a fumble which was recovered by USC. That drive though still did not end up with a quick 7 points for USC and instead they had to settle for a field goal.

That was a slight relief because then, even if Fresno scored, they would have to convert a 2-point conversion to send it to overtime.

As it turned out, the defense was there again and Pinegar’s throw in the end zone was intercepted. The positive attitude and the fire in the Trojans and the self confidence that the entire team has, showed very subtly when that interception in the end zone was actually returned! And not just a few yards … he ended up at the 40-yard line! He could have just gone down in the end zone and let USC knee out the last 90 seconds or so. But he did not. He took the risk of losing the ball and ran back.

While that was sort of foolish, it did show the character and poise of this team. That was probably a big difference between this game at the Notre Dame game. Against Notre Dame, I think there were some guys who started thinking that they may not win. At home, first of all, you have the crowd supporting you big time. And it did not seem like a single Trojan was having that feeling that USC may lose. Not at all.

And so the streak goes on. One last game now before the end of regular season. ucla is going to be well rested. USC hopefully will get fitter and be ready for the showdown.

Fight On!