Bush leads USC to Rose Bowl

Southern Cal routed UCLA 66-19 to complete another perfect season.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Run, Reggie, run -- all the way to the Rose Bowl.
A step away from playing for a third straight national title, Reggie Bush and No. 1 Southern California stomped into the championship game by overpowering their crosstown rivals Saturday.
Bush ran for 260 yards and two touchdowns in a 66-19 victory over No. 11 UCLA, the 34th consecutive win for the top-ranked Trojans and 16th straight against a ranked opponent.
Now Texas next
Now only Texas stands between USC (12-0, 8-0 Pac-10) and a perfectly historic season.
Just about the time the unbeaten and second-ranked Longhorns were wrapping up a 70-3 victory over Colorado in the Big 12 title game that will send them to the Rose Bowl, USC was starting its own victory march to Pasadena.
The Bowl Championship Series will make it official today: Trojans vs. Longhorns on Jan. 4 in the national title game.
The festivities at the Coliseum started with a warm farewell to a senior class that's been part of one of the greatest dynasties in college football history. Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart was last to be honored with a long standing ovation before USC and UCLA played for the 75th time.
From there, it was Bush's day.
Heisman candidates
Against the 115th-ranked run defense in the country, USC made its intentions clear for the start. Keep it simple and let Bush put a punctuation mark on his Heisman campaign. No doubt both Bush and Leinart will be in New York next Saturday when the big bronze trophy is handed out. And after the way Bush finished off the regular season, it certainly seems like it's his turn hold the hardware.
On the second play from scrimmage, Bush zipped off tackle for 28 yards. USC ended up driving 70 yards on 16 plays without completing a pass. UCLA (9-2, 6-2) held the Trojans to a 35-yard field goal by Mario Danelo. It was a small victory and one of the few UCLA would be able to chalk up in its seventh straight loss to USC.
Rebounded in second half
Leinart started the game 0-for-5, looking overanxious in his final home game. He finished it 21-for-40 for 233 yards with three touchdown passes. More importantly, though, he ran his record as a starter to 37-1 thanks to a running game that piled up 431 yards and a defense that stymied one of the best offenses in the country.
USC was backed up with a third-and-10 at its own 3 at the start of the second quarter, when Bush found a huge lane off the left end and streaked down the sideline for 65 yards.
That led to a 19-yard touchdown run by Bush's running mate, LenDale White, which made it 17-0. White finished with 154 yards rushing on 14 carries as USC went over 300 yards rushing for the fifth time this season. White, the burly thunder to Bush's lightning, scored three touchdowns to break Charles White's school record with 54 for his career.
UCLA fumbled the ensuing kickoff away to USC and Bush, who carried 24 times, went back to work.
He hurdled over a tackler for a 13-yard score to make it 24-0, and later slipped a UCLA defender in the backfield and scored from 10 yards out to put USC up 31-6 at the half.