ROUTING OKLAHOMA MAY BE JUST THE START.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

MIAMI - Well, Trojans, let's see what you can do for an encore now.

It can't get any better than this, can it, Matt Leinart? The climb from a two-loss season, to a one-loss season, to a perfect season can't get any higher, can it, Steve Smith? This rise from wishing for a national-title shot, to a share of a national title, to an undisputed national championship has to stop here, doesn't it, LenDale White?

A year ago, USC's once-beaten players and coaches contemplated a championship shared with LSU and set their sights on the next step up, which would be an undefeated record and an unblemished championship.

But where do you go from flawless?

With the top-ranked Trojans' shockingly one-sided, 55-19 victory over No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl in front of 77,912 at Pro Player Stadium on Tuesday night, they reached the top in coach Pete Carroll's fourth season and may have set an unattainable standard for future wearers of the cardinal and gold helmets.

``We're No. 1, champs by ourselves,'' defensive end Shaun Cody said. ``This is so much better than last year.''

For years, the USC football faithful pleaded with a succession of coaches to restore a measure of the program's former glory.

The fans have been rewarded with a new high point in the history of a team that lays claim to 11 national titles.

The past three seasons, since Carroll got his feet on the ground following a break-even first year in Los Angeles, have brought the Trojans two of those national titles. Three Pacific-10 Conference championships. Two Heisman Trophies, won by Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. A 22-game win streak overall and a 21-game win streak at home. A 6-0 record against rivals UCLA and Notre Dame. And ever-rising turnstile counts at the Coliseum.

They've had some of those things before.

But they've never had all of those things at once before.

Now - with Leinart passing for 332 yards and five touchdowns, with Smith catching seven for 113 yards and three touchdowns, and White rushing for 118 and two touchdowns on a sore ankle - they have capped a 36-3 run for three years with about as convincing championship-game victory as you'll ever see.

The interior defense held Oklahoma tailback Adrian Peterson without a carry longer than 9 yards, the defensive line and secondary nailed 2003 Heisman winner Jason White for three interceptions, and the defense and special teams grabbed loose balls all over the field.

The Trojans (13-0) made Oklahoma (12-1) look bad.

The Sooners can take credit for a little of that. The only risk for the Trojans after the Orange Bowl is that some computer, watching Oklahoma's performance, might try to knock them down on strength-of-schedule.

This didn't begin with LenDale White's touchdown run that gave the Trojans the lead at 14-7, or the Dominique Byrd one-handed catch that began the Trojans' 28-point scoring streak in the first half, or the Smith catches that took it from 28-7 to 35-10 to 45-10.

It began more than a year ago on the day the Trojans, blocked by the BCS formula from the Sugar Bowl championship game, walloped Michigan in the 2004 Rose Bowl to lock up the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll.

``This is a breakthrough year,'' tailback Reggie Bush said that evening. ``Now we're going to try to get better and better. We lost two games last year, we lost one game this year ...''

Would a Trojans freshman be so bold as to predict the next step would be a perfect season?

``That,'' Bush said, ``is not something we see as impossible.''

The Trojans didn't get mad after last season's snub. They didn't get even either. They got the whole thing.

On the night when the Trojans won their first undisputed national title since 1972 - the 1974 and 1978 were recognized as No. 1 by the UPI poll but not the AP - the South Florida air was warm and breezy and Pro Player Stadium was not quite full because of the high ticket prices.

By the end of the third quarter, when USC was up by 38 points, the more plentiful Sooners fans were beating a retreat and the Trojans backers were jumping in their end of the joint. By the middle of the fourth, Trojans players were sneaking up on defensive-line coach Ed Orgeron and dumping a beverage keg on the soon-to-depart assistant. By the final seconds, Leinart and Carroll were embracing.

The Trojans are praying that Leinart ignores the millions of good reasons to enter the NFL Draft instead of staying in college for his senior season, and that Carroll doesn't get an NFL offer he can't resist. Nothing is forever in sports, because star players and coaches move on. The best advice is for the champs' fans to celebrate like there's no tomorrow.

It doesn't get any better than this.

Does it?

``It can get better,'' said defensive tackle Mike Patterson. ``Just come back and do it again. That's better right there.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

USC fans celebrate Tuesday night during the Trojans' 55-19 victory over Oklahoma.

J. Pat Carter/Associated Press

Box:

No. 1 USC 55, No. 2 OKLAHOMA 19