At first blush, it was the least anticipated game on the schedule.

Nothing about the 2005 Fresno State Bulldogs seemed especially exciting. Every Pac-10 game mattered for a push to return to the Rose Bowl for a second straight year, while Arkansas was a chance to renew pleasantries with the SEC after a 2003 win against Auburn. Notre Dame was, as always, Notre Dame. Even Hawaii had the distinction of being the season opener. But Fresno? Fresno was just the in-state school sandwiched after the Weekender trip to Cal, and before a showdown with a formidable UCLA team.

Instead, what transpired that night -- November 19, 2005 -- became a cult classic on par with some of the greatest games USC has ever played. It was the rare contest when one of the most dominant offenses in college football history was matched almost play for play, and the only home game all season where the Trojans would trail at halftime, by a score of 21-13. It was also the platform for the best individual performance in Pac-12 history, as Reggie Bush compiled a conference-record 513 all-purpose yards, including 294 rushing yards. USC would ultimately prevail 50-42 in one of the most exciting, hard-fought games they played that season.

Now, ahead of this weekend's season opener against the Bulldogs, three Trojans who started in the 2005 game look back on that night, each reflecting on a key play they were involved in. For Lawrence Jackson, it was a forced fumble that set up a crucial Mario Danelo field goal that gave the Trojans a two-possession lead with 3:06 remaining in the game. Darnell Bing looks back at his game-sealing interception and subsequent 40-yard return that stopped a potential game-tying drive from the Bulldogs. And Dominique Byrd recalls what it was like to be involved in the most memorable play of all, Bush's famous stop-and-go touchdown late in the third quarter (see above video).

Lawrence Jackson, Defensive End

I remember saying to a few people 'This is going to be a tough game, these dudes aren't going to come out here and lay down.' They had a lot of guys from locally who I knew could play. They were guys with chips on their shoulder who didn't have an opportunity to go to SC and play. That's different from a UCLA chip on their shoulder, where they thought they were good enough to play at SC but didn't get a chance and went across town. These were guys who didn't get to play anywhere in the Pac-10. For most of those guys at Fresno, this was the biggest stage they would have to play on in their entire careers and they would have to capitalize on that.

Some teams, you'd see it in their eyes and they were intimidated. The Fresno guys were like, 'Yo, it's about to be a fight' and I could sense it right away. It was like Pete assembled his battle battalion and Pat Hill assembled his. It had that 300/Sin City vibe, where we walk into this battle and from the outside looking in, it's just Fresno State. But from the inside, you better get your shit together, because it's about to get real. The outside world had no clue, because it was a battle. If we weren't ready, they would have beaten us. We outscored them; we just did one more right thing than they did. They had beaten us on an emotional level; we just outscored them. The only other team that played us like that was Stanford in 2007 and we lost. That Fresno game could have been the Stanford game.

I'll never forget the forced fumble. For me, as a player, I always want to make a play in a game that was critical. For me, it was like, 'This is where I can be deciding a moment in the game and I need to be ready to make a play.' It was slow motion. I knock the guy's hand down, I'm looking at the quarterback and he doesn't see me. At that moment, that's when you know you've got the sack. I knew that I had it and I wanted to get the ball. When you get a guy like that, the sack is secondary; the ball is the most important thing. I wanted to be calm enough in the moment to make that happen. It's one of my greater moments at SC.

Fresno, Stanford, and Texas are the games I remember most. This win to me was better than the Notre Dame win, because we were better than Notre Dame -- we were better , we were tougher, we were cooler than Notre Dame, everything. That was a game where you play and you won, but they kicked your ass, too. You caught a couple of blows to the chin. It's one of the toughest games I ever played in in college, just in terms of gritty intense bruising and leaves a mark. It was fun, we came out and won, but I wouldn't want to fight them again.

Darnell Bing, Safety

I think we went out there and showed a little of what we were capable of doing, and I think they came out and did full force. I don't think we actually expected it to go the way it did. We were down in the first quarter and that was very uncommon. That's the signal that we have to get on it and come together and make things happen. We started doing that, but they never folded -- not one time. It was one of the only games before the Texas game where we played a full game. Especially that season; we blew a lot of teams out. The last time we had a full game before that may have been Cal in '03. So for us to provide our fans a game where they actually had to stay in their seats, it was a long time coming. It was real, live entertainment. Because they had so many weapons. They'd run the ball and they'd do it again and when you might not expect them to do something different, then they hit you with the pass.

On the interception, I remember just getting back there and the quarterback was willing to take a chance. To me, he was basically saying that his receiver was that much better than me in his head, and he basically gave me a chance to go up and get it. All I remember is when I turned around, I saw the open field and saw our sideline and I got to our sideline and pushed out of bounds. Everyone was celebrating but I walked straight to the bench because I was so exhausted and sat down.

I really enjoyed the Oklahoma game when we destroyed them in the Orange Bowl. The Michigan game was pretty good. Definitely the Notre Dame game ... I'd definitely put it in the top 5 games I ever played, maybe even the top three.

Dominique Byrd, Tight End

One thing was really obvious to us is that we were always going to take everybody's best shot. This was no different -- Fresno came out really fired up. We had won over 30 games in a row and one thing that Coach Carroll and his coaching staff were preaching was that mindset that we couldn't look past anyone. Everyone wants to be the giant killer. Everyone wants to be the one to take down the No. 1 team and ruin their chances at a title. We were always really fired up, but we didn't have our groove in the first half. On our side of the ball, clearly Reggie Bush stood out. The first run I saw was 70 yards or something like that and it was something like 'OK, this could be a huge day'. He always seemed to find an opening, even on that first scoring drive that we had where he started a long drive and LenDale punched it in with ease. That's how our football team operated. We were on a long winning streak and it was always like if something doesn't go the way to start with, everybody knows our motto is Fight On. We were never a team that was ever discouraged by being down or anything at halftime.

They do talk about defining moments and there's the one in the 3rd quarter. I was blocking and Reggie was running down the field, and I think the run goes off to the left and he broke out, and as we continued down the field, you want to continue blocking but you're kind of rooting for your guy. With Reggie, one thing he always did was cut back so you had to hustle down the field. So, at that point, for me, you don't know if the guy is going to get him out. When he stops on the sideline, you keep going and that's why they tell you to fight on the play because you never know what's going to happen. It's kind of like an And1 kind of a deal or a Rucker Park street ball type of deal. I watched a documentary on Dr. J and he did it all the time but when it comes on the football field, it's one of those deals where it's "No, no, no, no, no, no -- oh yeah!" because when it works, it's great. That's one of those things that make sports great because when the ball is snapped, anything can happen, especially with someone who could change direction like Reggie could. With a five-yard thing, he could change the game. He might run 130 yards total on a 40-yard run and we were like 'Whoa.' It was like he was playing Madden where you hit the joystick and turned on a dime. That's what made him a special player and college football's most exciting player, culminating in a Heisman Trophy.

What was really unique in the time that we played was that there were always things on the schedule, like the first time we went down to Auburn and we weren't used to playing SEC teams. But our mindset -- and what Coach Carroll was very vocal about -- was that we will go anywhere and play anybody. Fresno State got their opportunity and they maximized, in so many ways, everything they could have gotten out of that game. I had a teammate with the Arizona Cardinals named Stephen Spach who was on that Fresno team and we'd talk about that game. He'd say, 'You know we almost...' but you gotta go to back to those old song lyrics: 'Almost doesn't count.'

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