Title run seems out of their hands

FROM TUCSON — Things change quickly in the desert this time of year, from blistering sun to blackest night, from annoying swelter to rattling chill.

From growing national title hopes to virtually none.

So it went for the USC football team, which stalked across the sagebrush to win a game, but will trudge home having probably lost a season.

In the game in front of them Saturday night, they overcame dropped passes and dumb turnovers with a suffocating defense to defeat Arizona, 17-10.

In a game almost 2,000 miles away, they had no such luck with Penn State.

In Columbus, Ohio, the unbeaten Nittany Lions remained that way in defeating Ohio State, 13-6.

That means Penn State, with three easy finishing games, probably will occupy one spot in the national title game.

Which means the other spot will surely go to either the SEC or Big 12 champion, both leagues containing enough unbeaten or strong one-loss teams to squeeze USC out.

Yeah, USC really, really, really needed Penn State to lose.

Yeah, the earlier loss to Oregon State will haunt the Trojans from Miami to Pasadena.

Not only will they probably miss the national title game, they could also miss the Rose Bowl, as Oregon State controls its destiny there.

Left for the one-loss Trojans -- if they indeed finish with that one loss -- would be spilled Sugar, peeled Orange or a flaky Fiesta.

Big-money games, certainly. Fun-and-sun games, all.

But USC is about national titles, especially a USC team that Pete Carroll proclaimed as perhaps his best.

As Saturday again showed, this one clearly isn't.

Against a shaky Arizona team with losses to New Mexico and Stanford, USC took the lead, blew the lead, needed a third-quarter drive to regain the lead, then could barely hold the lead.

Four times, the USC offense had the ball in the fourth quarter with a chance to finish the Wildcats. Four times, the Trojans did nothing, one missed field goal and three punts.

"We made it really hard on ourselves," said quarterback Mark Sanchez. "We really hurt ourselves, and we have to learn from it."

Only several great defensive stands saved USC, including a fourth-and-one stop near midfield midway through the fourth quarter,

"A play like that determines who you are," said Rey Maualuga, the leader of a group that held Arizona to a season-low 188 yards.