LANDOVER, Md. — Only miles away from the White House, somehow it only figures that a guy named Bush was the deciding factor in Saturday night's BCA Classic.

In the biggest performance of his young college career, sophomore Reggie Bush burned Virginia Tech's defense for three touchdown receptions and led No. 1 Southern California past the Hokies 24-13 in front of 91,655 fans at Fedex Field.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry can only hope that George Bush doesn't have this kind of night come Nov. 2.

Bush, a shifty and speedy 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore, scored on passes of 35, 53 and 29 yards as the Trojans survived a severe scare from a young Tech club.

"We had more speed than them and we wanted to exploit that. We felt we could beat their corners," said Bush, who finished with five catches for 127 yards, ran nine times for 32 yards and was named the game's MVP.

After the game, the Hokies were dealt some more bad news. Xavier Adibi, Tech's promising redshirt freshman linebacker, suffered a torn biceps muscle in his right arm and may be out for the remainder of the season.

"I hope not . . . but maybe," said Tech coach Frank Beamer, when asked about Adibi possibly being done for the year.

The Hokies, a 16-point underdog at kickoff, were ahead 10-7 late in the third quarter and appeared to be in position to add to their lead when freshman Josh Hyman caught a 32-yard pass from Bryan Randall at the USC 12-yard line.

However, in a call that looked very questionable after one viewed the replay, Hyman was whistled for pushing off on USC defender Darnell Bing on the play. So instead of having a first down at the Trojans' 12, the Hokies' offense was left with a first-and-25 at its own 41.

"I reacted to the ball; I caught the ball at the highest point as we are taught to do," Hyman said. "I think that was a bad call there."

Beamer didn't take it quite that far, but said: "I don't know how y'all saw it, but I thought it was kind of questionable."

When Tech couldn't keep the drive moving and had to punt, USC quickly took advantage of its good fortune. On USC's second play after getting the ball back, Bush moved from his normal tailback spot to left wideout. At the snap, Bush accelerated to the inside of Tech cornerback Jimmy Williams and broke into open space. He zipped down field alone and quarterback Matt Leinart dropped a soft rainbow pass right into Bush's hands for 53-yard touchdown that put the Trojans ahead 14-10 with 32 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Hokies, who fell to 0-7 all time and 0-6 under Beamer against top-ranked foes, cut the lead to 14-13 when Brandon Pace booted the second of his two field goals, a 42-yarder with 7:55 left to play.

Of course, Tech's score only meant that USC got the ball back. One play after Steve Smith beat James Anderson and Eric Green for a 46-yard completion, Bush broke free in the right flat when Tech linebacker Blake Warren fell down, hauled in a soft toss from Leinart and scooted 29 yards untouched into the end zone.

Down 21-13 with 5:35 left, Tech went three and out on its next series. After a stop by its defense, Tech saw its final shot turn into a blank when Randall was sacked and fumbled the ball at the Hokies' 26.

Ryan Killeen's 41-yard field goal with 54 seconds left supplied the final score.

"I'm disappointed there were about three plays in the second half that cost us about 140 yards," Beamer said. "And any of the three we thought we were in good coverage."

Led by Randall's 180 total yards, Tech went to the locker room at halftime to a rousing ovation from its delirious throng of fans and a surprising 10-7 lead.

Repeatedly scrambling out of the pocket, Randall ran for 96 yards on eight carries. Despite a pair of dropped passes by split end Chris Clifton, Randall completed six of 13 passes for 84 yards as the Hokies rolled up 207 total yards.

Bush took a short screen pass from Leinart and bolted through a huge gap opened by his right guard and tackle for a 35-yard touchdown for the game's first score. USC's score came only minutes after Clifton dropped a pass between the numbers at the Trojans' 16, and was followed on the next play by Lofa Tatupu's interception of a Randall pass.

Tech closed to 7-3 on Pace's 35-yard field goal late in the first quarter. The Hokies then made it 10-7 with an 80-yard drive that was capped by Randall's 12-yard TD pass to Hyman with 6:19 left in the half.

USC's defense, beaten badly up front by Tech's offensive line and Randall in the first half, clamped down in the second half, holding the Hokies to just 87 total yards.