Heading into the game:
USC ranked No. 1; Notre Dame ranked No. 9

After the game:
USC ranked No. 1; Notre Dame ranked No. 9

That's the way it goes in college football. Sometimes it's not whether you win or lose, but how you look doing it.

Great, great game. Amazingly entertaining. But there have been a number of games in recent years with even more at stake. In fact, we'll have a few more before this season is through.

Other Thoughts on USC-Notre Dame:

• Those three guys pictured are college students? They look like they combine for 900 pounds and 100 years of age.

• How 'bout fumbling a ball out of bounds when it's the only thing that would save you from defeat? Clearly, Jesus is a Trojans fan.

• That 60-yard TD punt return by ND's Tom Zbikowski was a true Stadium Shaker, my new term for one of those plays when the arena just explodes, and fans high five every stranger within distance of a lunge. In high school, Zbikowski was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Illinois and a first-team USA Today All-American. Why do some people make it seem like Notre Dame plays with a roster of Rudys?

• Let's recap the fortunes of the four universities that accepted me as a prospective student in 1990, and the one that didn't:

Syracuse (attended): Won 2003 men's basketball title
USC (accepted): Won 2003 and 2004 football titles
UConn (accepted): Won 1999 and 2004 men's basketball titles
Florida (accepted): Won 1996 football title
Indiana (rejected): Haven't won jack shit since I tossed my letter of rejection in the trash 30 seconds after opening it

• After showboating a bit on a TD run, a regretful Reggie Bush said, "That was my fault. That was my way of showing off. Completely bad leadership on my behalf." Sounds like another Bush I know.

Other Sports Thoughts:

• Vladimir Guererro owns a .176 career batting average in the postseason (9-for-51), with one home run, all with the Angels. Alex Rodriguez has a .277 postseason average with the Yankees and had a .340 postseason average with the Mariners. Three home runs with each club. A-Rod's on-base percentage in three series with the Yanks: .476, .378 and .435.

• Did you know that "True Yankee" Tino Martinez has pretty much been a dog in the postseason himself? After batting 1-for-6 (.167) against the Angels, his career average is .237 (84-for-354) in 21 postseason series. He hit .300 or better in five series and .200 or less in 10 series. His teams, however, are 16-5 in postseason series, and, of course, he jacked two of most memorable playoff home runs of the Joe Torre era.

• Paul O'Neill's Reds and Yankees teams were 16-3 in postseason series. Barry Bonds' Pirates and Giants were 2-7.

• Last year, Jose Contreras posted a 5.64 ERA for the Yanks and a 5.30 ERA for the White Sox. I think I speak for all Yankees fans when I ask, "What the fuck!?"

• Paul Maguire on Sunday night offered this piece of expert analysis during a replay of a Shaun Alexander run: "Watch his feet! They don't stop!" Good god.

• Credit boothmate and human home-theater system Mike Patrick for this exchange with Maguire, after Joe Theismann referred to his career-ending leg injury for the 5,000th time:

Patrick: Did you suffer any major injuries in your career, Paul?
Maguire: I had a lot of concussions.
Patrick: Well, we know that!

• Russ should stop whining, take his fraud monitoring assignment like a man and git-r-done. Zero liability sucks, anyway.

• I was jealous that Miami got to be "The U" in college football circles, but it's just as well, since it prohibits Ray Lewis, Jeremy Shockey and Kellen Winslow II from speaking of attending an actual university.

• Is there a less informative headline than when one hockey team is said to have "outskated" another?

• If the Yankees trade Gary Sheffield to another American League club, he'll absolutely kill us in reunion games. I can see it now: 7 games, .485 avg., 5 HRs, 13 RBIs. And three back pages of f-bombs.

• Moments after the Giants Shockey-ed the Cowboys with a game-tying touchdown in the final seconds of regulation Sunday, Gretchen Wilson's spirited "Here for the Party" blared through a stunned and silent Texas Stadium. Who's the crackhead they put in charge of music?

• All week long, people were asking me, "How the hell is Carolina favored by only one in Detroit? Is this a joke or something?" Final score: Panthers 21, Lions 20. Those boys in Vegas are smart, man.

• If not for its fantasy football engine, CBS SportsLine would be good for absolutely nothing — except ads that crash the most stable browser in the market. And SI.com, thanks for presenting all your content as top-10 photo galleries anchored, literally, by the slowest loading pages ever.