On the heels of a crushing 24-17 upset loss to Minnesota, the Trojans return to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this weekend with their backs against the wall.

USC (3-2, 1-2 Big Ten) will face a tall task Saturday when they take on No. 4 Penn State (5-0, 2-0), but if they want to stay remotely in the College Football Playoff race, it’s a game they must win.

Redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss said this game, in the context of last week’s loss, represents a crossroads for the Trojans.

“My message to the team was we have two pretty clear choices: to double down on who we are, come closer as a team and go forward with a great opportunity we have this weekend or let this affect us and deter us from what we ultimately want to do,” Moss said.

The Nittany Lions come into the matchup ranked fourth in the country on the heels of numerous college football upsets last weekend that caused a major shakeup in the AP Poll. While other top teams went down to inferior programs, Penn State cruised to a 27-11 win over UCLA at Beaver Stadium Saturday. But even though they were a no-brainer for a top spot, being one of the few remaining undefeated teams in a major conference, Penn State’s resume is shaky at best.

The Nittany Lions’ only ranked win was a 21-7 victory over No. 23 Illinois Sept. 28, and they also narrowly avoided defeat versus Mid-American Conference program Bowling Green, beating the Falcons 34-27 Sept. 7.

The Trojans, on the other hand, slipped out of the AP Poll after their last-second loss to the Gophers, strikingly similar to their defeat in Ann Arbor earlier this season, but received the most votes of anyone outside the Top 25. This essentially makes them the pseudo No. 26 team in the country. A win over a top-five opponent would almost certainly vault them back into the rankings.

Given that the Trojans are arguably Penn State’s toughest competition yet, they have a shot to do just that, especially if USC fans can pack the Coliseum, unlike the ‘sellout’ two weeks ago against Wisconsin, where thousands of seats remained empty. But on the other hand, a third loss would effectively tank the Trojans’ chances of competing for anything meaningful in the postseason.

A bright spot for the Trojans in the loss was redshirt senior running back Woody Marks, who rushed 20 times for 134 yards and a touchdown against a tough Gopher defense. Head Coach Lincoln Riley acknowledged the Trojans would love to lean on Marks if the run game continues to have success.

“We took some great steps and listen, the most fun time to call plays is when you got a great run game,” Riley said.

Fortunately for the Trojans, Marks feels equipped to take on such a heavy rushing workload due to his offseason training.

“[Strength and Conditioning] Coach [Bennie] Wylie put me in a great position to have my body equipped to get that many carries,” Marks said.

If USC is going to win this game, it will need to get off to a better start than they have the past three weeks. Penn State has allowed just 17 second-half points all season and ranks fourth in the entire country, with 3.4 second-half points allowed per game. If the Trojans have another subpar first half, it is unlikely they will be able to rely on a late-game resurgence.

Even if the Trojans do manage to crack the Nittany Lion defense in the second half, it may be too little, too late, if they don’t get off to a good start. The Penn State offense boasts one of the best air attacks in the country, as junior quarterback Drew Allar leads the Big Ten and ranks ninth nationally with over 15 yards per completion.

Moss is not worried about the slow starts, noting that the Trojans haven’t actually had trouble moving the ball early in games. He said the offense should feel good about the bulk of what they have done, but they need to be better at putting points on the board at the end of those long drives.

“We got to finish drives and limit mistakes,” Moss said. “It all depends on how you frame starting slow, I think the biggest thing is finishing those drives.”

The last meeting between the Trojans and Nittany Lions was in the 2017 Rose Bowl, a historic game that was one of the best college football games of the 2010s. Penn State, led by star running back Saquon Barkley, built a 49-35 lead with just eight minutes left to go in the game. But Trojan legend Sam Darnold rallied the offense for 17 unanswered points, including a walk-off field goal by Matt Boermeester to give the Trojans a wild 52-49 victory and the Rose Bowl title.

Darnold finished with 453 yards and five touchdowns in the game, cementing his Trojan legacy by delivering the USC football program its best win of the 2010s. Moss will look to channel his inner Darnold Saturday and get his squad back on track.

Tune in Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on CBS to see if the underdog Trojans can pull off one of the biggest upsets in program history against No. 4 Penn State at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly attributed a photograph. It was updated Oct. 9 at 11:07 a.m. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.