If you’re a USC Trojan fan please do me a favor: stop reading right now (no, seriously, I’m about to go in). The highlight of this weekend was not the Cardinals beating the Rangers for their 11th World Series Title, nor was it Philadelphia’s 34-7 beat down of the Dallas Cowboys (they really did get manhandled by a smaller, less physical team). Even then, the REAL highlight of this weekend was the Stanford Cardinal beating the USC Trojans 56-48 in a 3OT thriller in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This game culminated in Stanford’s Junior QB, Andrew Luck, running toward the Coliseum tunnel with both arms thrust skyward. There is no doubt that his heart must have still been pounding after all that happened Saturday night in Southern California—a season’s worth of drama compounded in one night.

Statistically, Andrew Luck went 29/40 for 330 yds, and finished with 3 TDs, and one interception with a rushing TD to boot. Stepfan Taylor carried the ball 23 times for 99 yds and two TDs, while both Luck and Tyler Gaffney added 36 yds each. On the Trojan side, Matt Barkley went 28/45 for 284 yds, 3 TDs and one interception. Curtis McNeal was the star for USC, carrying the ball 20 times for 145 yds and 2 TDs.

This was definitely not the prettiest Stanford victory, but at the end of the night, they emerged victorious, nonetheless. The backbone; the bread and butter of this offense has been the running game, even with Heisman favorite Andrew Luck at the helm. This offense is blessed with a stable of backs who can get in the open field and take off, including Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney. Coming into this game, the Cardinal offense was averaging over 215 rushing yards per game, and against the quick SC defense, they were able to rush for only 185 yds, which added pressure to Andrew Luck to perform and take over. In Stanford’s first 7 games this season, Luck was sacked only twice, and against SC he was sacked as many times. An offensive line heralded as one of the best in the country looked slow against the speedy Trojan front four. To add to the ugliness of this victory, late in the 4th quarter Luck threw a 30 yd interception return for a touchdown to SC defensive back Nickell Robey with only 3:08 left in the game. After the kick off, though, Luck gathered himself and was able to guide the Stanford offense down the field with the help of an unnecessary roughness flag against the SC defense. With 38 seconds left in the game, Stepfan Taylor ran from 2 yds out for the game-tying touchdown. After the Trojans failed to drive down the field and with time expiring, the two teams prepared themselves for overtime.

In overtime, the intensity continued (really, this could have been in a movie). In the first overtime Jeremy Stewart ran the ball in for the Cardinal TD, to take the lead 41-34. The Trojans answered right back and after a Barkley to Robert Woods 15 yd TD, the game was tied 41-41. In the second overtime, Matt Barkley again connected with one of his receivers, this time from 12 yds out to take the lead 48-41. Andrew Luck answered right back connecting with 6’8’’ Tight End Levine Toilolo to tie the game up. According to NCAA rules, once the game reaches its 3rd OT, upon scoring a TD teams are no longer allowed to kick the extra point, they must attempt a two-point conversion each time they score. With the ball first, the Cardinal offense had no problem scoring, courtesy of a Stepfan Taylor 5 yd run. Forced to go for two, Andrew Luck took the snap from the shot gun spread formation, and with poise hit Coby Fleener in the back of the end zone to successfully convert and take the lead 56-48.

Now the game was in Matt Barkley’s hands (dum, dum, dum…). The Trojans drove on the Cardinal defense, and were about to get into the end zone. On first and goal from the Cardinal 4 yd line, Barkley handed the ball to running back Curtis McNeal. Up until this point, McNeal had been carrying the Trojan offense. (I put the team on my back though) McNeal ran towards the opening in the line, and solid contact and instincts by Stanford’s Terrence Stephens forced the ball from McNeal’s hands and into the end zone. Stanford line backer AJ Tarpley quickly leapt onto the ball to seal the game.

After such a long night of good football, and more heart-pounding moments than my cholesterol level could take (I was turning red, which is probably not a good sign), the game ended on a fumble recovery in the end zone. There was no Hail Mary; no Statue of Liberty followed by a proposal to the girlfriend (cheesy much?); no defensive stop on the one yd line on 4th and goal—no, none of these moments. Instead, there was an anticlimactic fumble recovered in the end zone. Perhaps it’s appropriate that a game like this ended the way it did. I mean, had some crazy ending taken place I may not have been able to survive that night (my heart may not have made it).

In the game of football, you live and die by fundamentals. Whether it be something as simple as the proper mechanics when taking a 5 step drop, or something as complicated as pulling as a guard and recognizing which defender is your blocking assignment, you win and lose by how well you do the little things, and how they come together as a whole. In this case, the running back who was not protecting the ball properly was beaten by the defensive lineman who recognized that and stuck his paw in to pop the ball out. Clearly, the better team won (take that Trojan fans!).