But Bush tied the game with a 45-yard scoring gallop early in the third. His second long TD of the game put him over 100 yards rushing for the fifth straight game.

Notre Dame got the lead back with a field goal seconds into the fourth quarter, then D.J. Fitzpatrick missed from 34 yards when the Irish could have gone up by six.

Bush struck again, going around the corner from 9 yards out with about five minutes left to make it 28-24.

Then it was Quinn’s turn to have a Heisman moment.

He guided the Irish on an 87-yard drive, completing all three of his passes and finally putting Notre Dame up with 2:02 left.

Tom Strattman / AP Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn passed for one touchdown and ran for another.

Quinn finished 19-for-35 for 264 yards.

USC came in averaging 51 points per game, but the Irish put pressure on Leinart and intercepted him twice, the first time since the final game of the 2003 regular season he tossed two picks.

The dynamic backfield of LenDale White and Bush was turned into a solo act, as Bush kept USC in it until Leinart made the plays of the game.

He threw a prefect fade over a defensive back to Jarrett on the huge fourth-down conversion and finished with 301 yards passing.

For a while though, Notre Dame looked ready to add the Trojans to its list of historic streak stopping upsets.

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“We believed we could win and I think we showed it on the field,” Zbikowski said.

It was Notre Dame that stopped the longest winning streak in NCAA history when the Irish beat Oklahoma and ended its 47-game romp in 1957.

In ’46, Army had won 25 straight when Notre Dame tied the Black Knights, and Texas had won 30 in a row before losing to the Irish in 1971.

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Two years later, USC had a 23-game winning streak end in the shadows of Notre Dame’s Golden Dome.

On Saturday, USC was too tough, too resilient, to let it happen, and the Trojans are still on track to three-peat as national champions.

“If you’re waiting for me to say it’s a good loss, you won’t hear that here,” Weis said.

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