It was a hell of a run.

Victories? 85 in 93 games.

Competitiveness? Those eight defeats, in eight seasons … by a combined 29 points.

Results? Seven consecutive Pac-10 championships. Seven consecutive top-4 AP poll finishes. Seven consecutive BCS bowl games. Seven consecutive 11-victory seasons.

A hell of a run. Not much like that since Bud Wilkinson and Oklahoma. Maybe Barry Switzer and Oklahoma. Miami. Nebraska, maybe.

And now it is over, the punctuation to the end of this glorious essay applied by Oregon’s Ducks in a 47-20, 613-yard butt-kicking of Pete Carroll’s Trojans at Autzen Stadium.

From here on out, whatever USC does will be new and different. It will not be of a piece with what went before. That 47-20 is like a door that closed on the past.

USC must rediscover its identity. Ingratiate itself anew with poll-voters. Shock and awe opponents with what it does from Halloween 2009 forward. Because the past is done. This team has severed those links to the glory days of … oh, a week ago.

In its 27-point defeat to the Ducks, USC lost by nearly as many points as it had in its previous eight defeats combined. (The 29, remember.) In none of those eight defeats was USC out of the game. It arguably could have won any of those eight games, and perhaps should have won all of them, perhaps aside from a 24-17 loss to Oregon at Autzen two years ago. (Though even in that one Mark Sanchez was driving the Trojans until he threw a late, game-clinching interception.)

The Pac-10 title is gone. Unless Oregon loses three times and USC wins out … or Oregon loses twice and USC wins out and someone else (Arizona, say) makes it a three-way tie that somehow yields a Pac-10 title to USC. (No, don’t count on it.)

Which puts the Trojans in the Holiday Bowl, which is not part of the BCS package. Not even.

That top-4 in the poll business? Done, as well. Unless USC wins out and 12 or 13 of the 15 or 16 teams ranked ahead of them, when the polls come out later today, all lose.

And the 11-victory season? Well, maybe the Trojans can aspire to that by winning out — and beating whomever in San Diego in December. The Holiday Bowl, remember?

We come not to bury Pete Carroll, but to praise him.  He put together a run that may not be seen again in USC history. His energy, his recruiting prowess, his high-energy practices, his mastery of all things “defense” … his savvy hiring of assistants. It all came together in one glorious near-decade-long surge of success. There were the one-and-a-half national titles, and the oh-so-close loss to Texas in another title game.

USC had won 10 consecutive games against top-10 teams, till No. 10 (and rising) Oregon wiped the turf with them.

It was the way the Trojans lost that makes this game a demarcation of the past and the future. 613 yards allowed? Almost 400 yards rushing allowed?

That was the core of the Trojans under Carroll, his defenses. Nobody ran on his teams. Nobody scored on his teams like that. Until now.  Now, we note that USC has allowed 27, 36 and 47 points in its last three games. Now, we note that, yes, the Trojans do miss all those guys they graduated off of last year’s lights-out defense.

On Monday, USC has to pick up the pieces.

That Trojan arrogance? Punctured. The infallibility of all things cardinal-and-gold. Blown to bits.

Now they are another Pac-10 also-ran. Now they trail Arizona in the Pac-10 standings, with four games left.

This may be the ultimate test of Pete Carroll and his regime: Can he rally a team that has been destroyed? That gave up the second-most yards in the history of the program? Can he plug holes, find answers, inspire and redirect?

They still can win 11 games. That should be their goal now, as lofty as it may seem. That would be a great accomplishment. Especially after having the mask of invulnerability torn away on Halloween night.