The USC Trojans solidified their hold on the top spot in college football and a slot in the Orange Bowl BCS National Championship game with a 42-14 beating of Notre Dame in our EA Sports simulation.

The Trojans, who entered the game at #1 in both polls and in the BCS, did nothing to harm their status as they ran up nearly 500 total offensive yards against the Irish defense. Led by Heisman candidate QB Matt Leinart, who threw for over 300 yards, the Trojans were able to move the ball nearly at will all game.

Leinart, 22-1 as a starter entering the game, used a fellow Heisman candidate, taiback Reggie Bush, throughout the game, not only as an option out of the backfield, but as wideout in certain situations. Bush also contributed on special teams, returning a Notre Dame punt 79 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

The Irish fell behind early in the game and struggled to keep up with the high powered USC offense. The Trojans, who scored on two Leinart TD passes on their first two possessions, blitzed Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, forcing the Irish QB into several risky throws, the last of which was picked off by Matt Grootegoed and returned to the Notre Dame 11. From there, Bush scored his first TD of the day on an 8 yard scamper to put the Trojans up by 21 at the end of the first quarter.

Notre Dame never seemed to recover from the early strikes by the Trojan offense, settling into three consecutive three and out possessions before Bush made his spectacular punt return to put USC up by four TD's midway through the second. Notre Dame was finally able to put points on the board on a 6 yard TD run by Ryan Grant, but the game was out of reach by halftime with USC up 28-7.

While the total points scored in the half may not have reflected it, the USC offense dominated the 3rd and 4th quarters with a combination of short screens and misdirection runs, with the Trojans adding another touchdown by Bush before the Irish countered with a TD pass by Quinn late in the third. USC put the final points on the board midway through the 4th as QB Matt Cassell connected with fellow backup (and senior) Jason Mitchell for a 23 yard TD to bring the final score to 42-14. The victory by USC brought their record in the overall series to 29 wins, 42 losses and 5 ties.

Notre Dame finished the regular season with a 6-5 record, including a win over the Vols in Knoxville. Current projections have the Irish traveling to the Insight.com bowl, while the Trojans have one more regular season game, December 4th when they travel across Los Angeles to take on UCLA.