The final score failed to convey how close USC came to being embarrassed or how that fear spread throughout the stands in the Coliseum.
Special players can do that, make a play here, another there, and erase the memories of the anxiety that persisted for the majority of an afternoon.
The third characteristic, this Zen-like calmness of the true freshman quarterback starting his first college game, was really what allowed the Titanic to miss the iceberg and reach the open ocean on the first weekend of the season.
There were some early nerves to temper, some passes that could have been delivered more precisely, but when the plays counted most, when the outcome was still in question in the fourth quarter, Daniels made a couple of spectacular throws that changed the course of the game.