LEAP OF FAITH LEINART, USC STUN NOTRE DAME IN FINAL SECONDS.

Byline: Scott Wolf  Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - With USC's national championship hopes nearly finished, receiver Dwayne Jarrett ran onto the field with a scratched cornea, seeing double, so two footballs came straight at him.

On fourth-and-9 from the Trojans' 26-yard line with 1:32 left, Jarrett saw a blurred vision of USC's future.

``I only could see out of my left eye,'' Jarrett said. ``I'm seeing double. When it was in the air, it was like two balls.''

Jarrett plucked the correct one for a 61-yard reception that led to Matt Leinart's 1-yard touchdown with three seconds left as No. 1-ranked USC preserved its title hopes with a come-from-behind 34-31 victory over No. 9-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday in front of 80,795 at Notre Dame Stadium.

``I told him, 'There ain't no way you're going in there' and he said he was OK,'' USC coach Pete Carroll said. ``The doctors said he could go in and I knew the game was down to that one play.''

This was undoubtedly one of the best games of the storied rivalry, as the teams traded the lead three times in the final six minutes. The final drive broke the hearts of Notre Dame and its fans, which stormed the field prematurely only to see the Trojans pull out the victory.

USC players were then overcome with emotion in the same spot where the Irish celebrated.

``Honestly, I felt a miracle would happen,'' USC receiver Steve Smith (Taft of Woodland Hills) said. ``Of course, there's doubts in your mind. I would feel so stunned if we lost. I couldn't even think about that.''

Leinart, who struggled the entire game before his dramatic go-ahead touchdown, said, ``That's probably one of the greatest finishes ever. This game goes in history books as one of the greatest ever.''

USC tailback Reggie Bush was more emphatic, saying, ``I think this win goes down as the No. 1 win all-time for USC against Notre Dame.''

It was also memorable for Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, who broke out green jerseys for the game and visited USC's locker room afterward.

``I hope you guys win it all,'' Weis told the Trojans.

It didn't look like USC would win anything most of Saturday, but the Trojans took a 24-21 lead on a 9-yard run by Bush with 5:09 left. The Irish (4-2) made USC look ordinary, however, as they drove 86 yards for a 28-24 lead on quarterback Brady Quinn's 5-yard run with 2:04 remaining.

USC (6-0) then launched a memorable drive that featured everything you would expect from a classic rivalry game.

Leinart threw an incomplete pass and got sacked to set up USC's fourth-down dilemma. But the Heisman Trophy winner changed the play at the line and threw for Jarrett, who missed six plays because of the scratched cornea.

``Honestly, I thought the pass was short,'' Leinart said.

Jarrett almost didn't catch the pass, saying, ``The ball was inside the defender and I had to reach around him. At the last second, he tried to grab it.''

Jarrett got tackled at Notre Dame's 13 and two Bush runs got the ball to the 2.

That's when things got a little crazy.

With no timeouts and 23 seconds remaining, Leinart scrambled and attempted to dive in the end zone. He fumbled and the clock ticked down to 0:00, causing Notre Dame and its fans to rush the field.

But the Pacific-10 Conference officiating crew ruled that Leinart fumbled after going out of bounds at the 1.

``I knew they blew the whistle, I knew they would correct it,'' Carroll said.

Around this time, USC assistant coach Brennan Carroll signaled for a timeout but fortunately no one called one, because the Trojans were out of them.

There were seven seconds left as the referees prepared to start the clock, so Carroll motioned to Leinart to spike the ball. Leinart then motioned to the offense that he would spike the ball.

It all turned out to be a ploy. Carroll hoped to fool the Irish into relaxing if they thought Leinart would spike. He really wanted the quarterback to sneak it in to the end zone. Carroll learned the play watching former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino in the NFL.

``I'm hoping their coaches will see it,'' Carroll said. ``And I'm hoping their players will relax. That someone will relax. We know what we're doing on that one. We've practiced that for years.''

Leinart claimed he made the decision to go for it.

``I asked Reggie and he said, 'Just do it.' I was going to do it anyway,'' Leinart said.

``You go for the win and be a hero or don't make it and second-guess yourself. I just wanted to do it.

``I don't know, I was trying to make a play. The rest his history.''

Whether it fooled the Irish is highly debatable.

Leinart got hit at the 1, then received a push from behind by Bush and made it into the end zone with three seconds left.

``Bush pushed me, I felt something,'' Leinart said.

``I made sure he got in there,'' Bush added.

Replays indicated blocks from offensive tackle Sam Baker and tight end Fred Davis were equally important, but future lore will no doubt dictate that Bush pushed him into the end zone.

It could have been an extremely controversial finish for Carroll if Leinart didn't make it, with power back LenDale White on the sidelines.

``You don't have a lot of time to run new personnel in,'' USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said.

For his part, White said, ``At first I was going to go in but then (Notre Dame) would have loaded up the box for me. I'm glad Matt took it in.''

The finish masked several weaknesses that nearly derailed USC's season:

--Leinart threw two interceptions and no touchdowns in a game that probably derailed his frontrunner status for a repeat Heisman.

``I was off all night,'' he said. ``I don't know what was wrong.''

--Weis gave Carroll fits the entire game and showed it is possible to wear down USC's defense. Carroll's rarely been worked over like on Notre Dame's final drive, when the Irish went 87 yards in eight plays.

``He was on fire, give him credit, he was doing a great job,'' Carroll said.

In the end, however, Carroll retained his own luck of the Irish, pulling out another dramatic victory as USC won its 28th straight game.

``This is one of those games you will see on one of those Classic channels somewhere soon,'' Carroll said.

He wasn't quite clear how important it might be for the rivalry, however. Told that this was perhaps his greatest victory, Carroll asked, ``Do you say that because of the finish or was it really a great game?''

Either way works for the Trojans.

Scott Wolf, [phone]

scott.wolf(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) USC quarterback Matt Leinart breaks through the tackle of Notre Dame's Tom Zbikowski to score the winning touchdown.

(2) USC's Reggie Bush scores on a 36-yard run in the first quarter as Notre Dame's Mike Richardson can only watch.

Tom Strattman/Associated Press

(3) Notre Dame kicker D.J. Fitzpatrick, left, reacts to missing a third-quarter field goal as USC's Oscar Lua looks on.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

(4 -- color) no caption (Jarret Dwayne, Wooden Ambrose and USC team)

Box:

(1) NO ANSWER

(2) LAST STAND