ON THE SIDELINE at Notre Dame Stadium, USC coach Pete Carroll frantically waved for quarterback Matt Leinart to spike the ball. The Trojans trailed 31-28, inches from the goal line with seven seconds left.

" [ Leinart ] was to look back at [ offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian ] on the sidelines, and if we wanted to sneak it, we could sneak it," Carroll said this week. "And he had to point at him. So, we tell him to sneak it. So, he points at the line, and he looks at the line of scrimmage, and he goes, 'There's no way, they're all jammed up.' And he looks back at us, and Reggie [ Bush ] yelled something at him, 'Go for it. Go for it.'"

Moments earlier, Leinart had fumbled out of bounds inside the 1. The clock mistakenly ran out, and NBC's Tom Hammond declared, "Notre

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