A winner's will: USC increase its aura of invincibility by showing--again--it will come up with big plays when they're needed most.(COLLEGE FOOTBALL)

Blasphemous--that's what it is. You watch how easily he makes everyone look so silly. Your fists clench and your breath slips to shallow whenever he touches the ball on the field. But then, all of a sudden, he opens up, exposing a sense of insecurity off it.

"For the first time in my career here," junior running back Reggie Bush says of the--ah, what the heck--Game of the Century, "I was unsure."

This is what happens when the pilot light on the aura of invincibility at Southern California is just about snuffed, when the best college football team in this stratosphere is close to schlepping back to coach class and dealing with BCS math. It is here we find vulnerability--if only for a moment.

"I regret thinking that," Bush says.

Thank goodness there was some big lug of a backup offensive lineman who hadn't lost the Troy bravado. He put things in perspective after a heart-pounding 34-31 win over Notre Dame, screaming to anyone and everyone still detoxing from this white-knuckle ride: "We will not lose!"

Seriously, how can there be an argument?

Let's get beyond the 28-game winning streak, the load of fast, talented athletes and the ability to convert a fourth-and-the-season with a tightly placed throw that was PlayStation perfect. These Trojans have seen everything over the past month: early meltdowns, halftime deficits, opponents playing beyond their abilities. They've dealt with jealousy and complacency and just about everything in between.