Twenty-four hours after USC's stunning 55-19 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, the Trojans arrived back in Los Angeles to continue their celebration of winning their second consecutive national championship. This time there's no doubt who the No. 1 team in college football is, no doubt that Matt Leinart deserves the Heisman Trophy, and no doubt that Pete Carroll has fully restored USC's football program to the historic standards established by Howard Jones and John McKay.

Carroll and his offensive coordinator, Norm Chow, knew they had a pigeon in Oklahoma when they saw the first reels of film from the Sooners' regular season in early December. Chow's mouth watered like a wolf about to eat a steak when he saw clips of Oklahoma's porous pass defense. He couldn't wait to get the ball into Leinart's hands.

There were two keys for USC in the blowout. The first was the return of wide receiver Steve Smith, who had been sidelined with a broken leg since the middle of the season. Smith is the fastest of all the Trojan receivers, and he caught three touchdown passes from Leinart, including a sommersaulting grab between two defenders in the end zone. The second key was the Sooners' Mark Bradley's ill-advised attempt to sneakily field a punt deep in Oklahoma territory in the first quarter. USC recovered the fumble and LenDale White scored on a run that gave the Trojans a momentum-swinging 14-7 lead.

The game was expected to be a close defensive battle, but it turned into a rout by halftime. Even USC's players were surprised at how poorly Oklahoma performed.

The loss has to be an embarrassment to the Oklahoma coaching staff and the Big 12, because this is the second straight year Bob Stoops has brought the Sooners into the BCS national championship game, and lost. What's worse, Stoops stood by while his players derided USC before the game, calling the Trojan offense "average" and a "finesse" team. They said that Leinart would wilt under their relentless pass rush and that he didn't deserve the Heisman. The Sooners and others in the Big 12 also labled the Pacific 10 as "being soft."

In a national TV interview after the game, Stoops was an ungracious loser, refusing to acknowledge the Trojans' overwhelming effort. Instead he repeatedly blamed his team's turnovers and sloppy play for the loss.

Now, USC faces a promising future with 16 starters returning for the 2005 season, and talk about a third consecutive championship is all over Los Angeles. The Trojans hope that Leinart will be among those returnees and the junior from Anaheim says he'll make a decision on either entering the NFL draft or staying in school by Jan. 15.

Also, with the San Francisco 49ers coaching position open after the team's controversial owner, John York, fired Dennis Erickson and Terry Donahue this week, the speculation is that Carroll will be offered the job and a similar contract that LSU's Nick Saban got from the Miami Dolphins--five years and $25 million. But USC insiders say Carroll will stay at Heritage Hall, that he recently signed a contract extension and that he is happy with it.

It remains to be seen whether Chow will follow Ed Orgeron and leave for another school or the NFL. Orgeron, USC's defensive line guru and top recruiter, was named head coach at Ole Miss after the UCLA game on Dec. 4. Chow was very interested in the Stanford job, but the school hired Pittsburgh's coach Walt Harris instead. Newspaper reports this week in L.A. said Chow talked to the Baltimore Ravens where he could be reunited with his old BYU colleague, Brian Billick.

But if Leinart stays at USC, Chow should do the same. In any case, maybe it's time for Bob Stoops to get out of Norman. He and John York would seem to be suited for each other.