IT'S ROBINSON'S NIGHT.

Byline: Kevin Modesti

If it all had to come down to one game for John Robinson, he deserved to make it a game like this one.

Ninety-thousand in the Coliseum. The peristyle lit up. The Olympic flame alight. The USC and Notre Dame marching bands at battle pitch. The Trojans' greatest rivals minutes from rubbing it in their faces for the 14th straight season.

And USC rescuing the game, the season, maybe the coach in a finish that would be called miraculous if these things weren't commonplace in the Trojans-Irish series.

There is no prettier scene in Los Angeles sports.

There has been no bigger coach in Los Angeles football in most of our lifetimes.

This coach, this game, were made for each other.

``It's one of the best moments of my life,'' he said after USC won 27-20 in overtime, beating Notre Dame for the first time since 1982.

Robinson hated the idea that people watching this epic might have been thinking about him, not about the players, about the history.

He was right to hate that. Robinson's future at USC should never have come down to this.

I mean, if you viewed these 3 hours, 30-plus minutes of football as a trial for Robinson's job, your heart and your head must have been doing flips all night.

For the first 15 minutes, boy, that Robinson could really coach. He was a tactical genius, a five-star sideline general, a masterful molder of young men.

Then Notre Dame marched 80 yards to take a 7-6 lead, and Robinson was a bumbling fat guy.

Then the Trojans recovered an Irish punt returner's fumble, and Robinson was a coach of historic accomplishment.

Then a Trojans pass was intercepted in the end zone, and Robinson had obviously lost that burning desire.

That judgment was confirmed when the Irish passed for an insurance touchdown in the third quarter.

Though, it wasn't too late to change your mind after the Trojans took another Irish fumble and a short drive to a touchdown that made it a two-point game.

Though, you figured Robinson was through after the Irish made it 20-12 with 4-1/2 minutes to play.

Though, he sure looked smart watching Delon Washington carry USC to the tying touchdown and 2-point conversion.

If you think a coach's future, a football team's future, should ride on one season, one game, one play, Saturday night proved the absurdity of such short sightedness.

That was the theme of the 68th edition of college football's class intersectional rivalry, wasn't it?

Lou Holtz, who has resigned, would coach his final regular-season game for Notre Dame. John Robinson, at the end of his worst season at USC, would need to win or at least beat the two-touchdown spread to keep his job.

That was the talk all week.

Robinson, in victory, ripped those who made this Robinson vs. Holtz rather than USC vs. Notre Dame.

``We are not the issue. He and I are not the issue,'' he said. ``It's the game, it's the teams, it's the schools.''

But for many they were the issue, especially Robinson and his mission, win or get out of town.

Robinson didn't like that theme too much, either.

``I think if you want to talk about me, you should talk about the whole me,'' he said, ``everything I've accomplished in my career.''

Like a national championship and 10 seasons of eight-plus victories at USC before this year's stumbles.

It should take more than one bad season to run a John Robinson out of L.A.

Had he turned bad since he coached the Trojans to their 1996 Rose Bowl win over Northwestern? Had he turned bad since USC extended his contract through 2001 - just last May?

Would getting rid of Robinson do anything but force the Trojans to start over?

And why was there no talk about Robinson's job when a rash of NCAA violations and investigations embarrassed the school last season and this? You win, you stay. You lose, you pack up. Should it ever be that simple?

Robinson said he was sustained this week by calls and letters of support from ``true Trojans.'' Some of them were Tprobably in the crowd running amok on the field after Rob Powlus' last pass attempt was batted down sometime after 8:30 p.m. If Robinson was not picked up and carried off the field by the suddenly adoring mob, it's only because he's too, well, big for that.

``I think it (the Robinson talk) did bring us together,'' senior defensive tackle Matt Keneley said. ``We did it for Coach Robinson. We did it for everybody.''

If it had to come down to one game for John Robinson, the best news is, there will be more like this one.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) USC coach John Robinson, beating Notre Dame for the first time since 1982: ``It's one of the best moments of my life.''

(2) USC defensive back Brian Kelly and defensive end Willie Lowery embrace after a stop of Notre Dame in the third quarter.

Tina Gerson / Daily News