Cool, calm and collected—that’s how the USC Trojans and head coach Pete Carroll marched their way to the program’s second-straight national title. They had the best coaching staff and talent in the country for the second year in a row, and they played every game like they knew it.

Throughout the course of the Trojans’ 13-0 season, the boys from South Central showed they had the ability to take some shots early, only to come back bigger and badder than anyone else when it mattered most.

Just ask Stanford, Notre Dame and Oregon State: all teams who held leads on the Trojans early but ended up on the losing end late. USC didn’t fear playing from behind anymore than they feared playing ahead by three touchdowns.

So when Oklahoma went 92 yards on a picturesque drive for the game’s opening score Tuesday night in the FedEx Orange Bowl, I knew myself and other Southern Californians didn’t have to fret that the boys from wagon country would have their way.

After all, OU head coach Bob Stoops and his players were far too excited with their early accomplishment, shouting and pumping their fists in the air for the TV cameras like they had just received a $1,000 scratch lotto ticket. Following all of this premature celebration the cameras switched over to a shot of Carroll walking excitedly down his sideline with an obvious smile on his face, as if to say, "Alright, now we really are going to take it to you." And so they did.

Minutes later, SoCal product and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinhart connected with his tight end Dominique Byrd for an unbelievable play and the rout was on. Whether the TV audience knew it or not, I id.

What happened over the course of the next three quarters put to rest a number of questions that might have still lingered in the heads of college football fans.

The first and most glaring was whether or not we would have a clear national champion amid the living, breathing disaster that is the BCS. Thankfully, USC put all the water-cooler bickering to rest

This year there weren’t going to share the title with the Sooners, or those pesky Tigers from Auburn. No, this national championship had to have one owner, and the Trojans’ dominant performance against OU made that possible. Fans from Norman to Gainesville had to agree.

Second: Leinhart or Sooner quarterback Jason "Please-use-before January" White?

This one wasn’t even close. The Mater Dei product and his unparalleled arsenal made the trash-talking OU secondary eat their words, and outplayed his Midwestern counterpart so badly that White might be asked to return last season’s Heisman.

But I say keep it. White might need to hock it for cash if the Arena League doesn’t work out next season. Leinhart, on the other hand, looks to have a fine pro career ahead of him—don’t expect to see him in 2005 Trojan fans, unless it’s in a NFL jersey.

And finally, the Trojans helped disprove an annoying stereotype that labels West Coast teams as soft and unphysical and Midwest and Southern teams as hard working and hard-nosed. This perception was clearly held by a number of sports "experts" that had the Sooner slated to triumph—only it was USC that played the role of the strong and silent type—beating OU with both old school toughness and with West Coast flair.

It was something for all Californians to get excited about, even those poor fans from UCLA who are still licking their wounds from a Las Vegas Bowl loss to Wyoming. USC showed the traditionalists that the Pac-10 is far more than fun-and-gun football—these Golden State kids could play with some true grit, especially on defense.

And lets not forget that USC freshmen and local graduates Jimmy Miller, Michael Stuart and Clay Matthews also will have national championship rings to bring back over the summer. I hope I get to see one.

Now the only question is: with all that dang talent at USC, when are these hometown boys going to get some playing time?