BERKELEY, Calif. — It's been so long since Southern California's last loss that Matt Leinart claimed he couldn't even remember how he felt on that strange night at Memorial Stadium.
Two years and 32 victories later, Leinart turned any lingering memory of that exasperating triple-overtime defeat into vindication — and the site of USC's last failure became just another routine stop on the Trojans' victory tour.
Leinart passed for 246 yards and ran for two touchdowns, and LenDale White ran for three more scores in No. 1 USC's 22nd straight Pac-10 victory, a 35-10 rout of slumping California on Saturday.
Reggie Bush ran for 82 yards for the Trojans (10-0, 7-0), who replaced drama with dominance while tying Cal's 1947-50 record for consecutive conference wins. With every businesslike drive and aggressive defensive stop, USC buried its most competitive conference rival in recent years.
"That's a great win for us against a team that we've struggled with for the last couple of years," Leinart said. "I don't think we really thought about (2003). We just wanted to make a statement today that things are changing, and that they're going to have to bring their best shot."
The USC defense intercepted Joe Ayoob four times and kept Cal out of the end zone until 1:34 remained, while Leinart was nearly flawless in his latest impressive argument for another Heisman Trophy — though he failed to throw a touchdown pass for just the fourth time in 36 career starts.
Leinart, White and receiver Dwayne Jarrett all surpassed 1,000-yard statistical milestones for the season during an easy second half. USC had its second lowest-scoring game of the season, but few wins have been more satisfying.
"It seems like California has been right behind us for a while, and we talked about kind of separating a little bit," coach Pete Carroll said. "For all the right reasons, it's good to come up here and get a win."