A four-star recruit out of Mesa, Arizona, USC sophomore wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane committed to Head Coach Lincoln Riley in 2022 over offers from 16 other schools, including Texas, Oregon and Colorado — despite being ranked below three other wideouts in the Trojans’ recruiting class. It was a bold decision, and last season, frankly, it looked like a poor one.

Lane had just seven catches all year, finishing 12th on the team in receiving yards. He spent a lot of time on the bench, forced to watch as fellow freshmen receivers Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson made big plays with Heisman-winning quarterback Caleb Williams.

But this year? Different story. On Saturday, after the biggest game of his collegiate career — racking up 10 catches for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns — Lane trotted off the field with a trademark huge grin on his face as fans in the front row screamed his name. The same grin he had on his face as he popped up after making an incredibly difficult catch early in the game, hanging on despite taking a massive hit from Wisconsin redshirt senior cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean and losing his helmet.

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Lane kept it cool after the game, projecting his best image of a humble veteran, but from his demeanor, it is clear he believes himself to be a superstar receiver in the making. And after today, you wouldn’t find many that would argue with him.

It was Lane’s coming out party in No. 11 USC’s (3-1, 1-1 Big Ten) 38-21 comeback win over Wisconsin (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten), but his fellow sophomore playmakers also made their mark as they look to establish themselves as leaders of this Trojan offense.

Lane, Branch and Robinson combined for 204 scrimmage yards, the most the trio has amassed in a game since arriving in Los Angeles last summer. The second most came last week in Ann Arbor, when they accounted for 167 of USC’s 283 receiving yards against No.10 Michigan.

“As a group, I’d say we’ve made strides in being mature, becoming more football smart, knowing where to be, when and why,” Lane said. “[We’re] just realizing that we need to get better. I think the receiver group helps lead the team in many ways and we just need to keep doing it.”

It was truly a tale of two halves for the Trojans on Saturday, and the energy shift inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was palpable. With 3:30 left in the second quarter, a promising USC drive abruptly ended after redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss was strip-sacked by Wisconsin junior safety Austin Brown — the Trojans’ third turnover of the half.

The groans around the stadium were loud, and the body language of the team’s leaders was not encouraging. Redshirt junior guard Maason Murphy put his hands on his head in despair as Moss hobbled off the field, looking rattled and defeated. The Trojans trailed 21-10, and were staring down the barrel of a disastrous 0-2 start to conference play in their first season in the Big Ten.

But then, something shifted. It is difficult to say exactly what, but just an hour later, DJ Mal-Ski was playing a mash-up of “Jump Around,” Wisconsin’s fight song, and Kendrick Lamar’s summer diss track “Not Like Us” as the Trojans took a 38-21 lead after scoring 28 points unanswered.

The Badgers looked shell-shocked, wondering how these were the same mistake-ridden, uninspired opponents they saw in the first half. As ruthless as Mal-Ski’s musical choices were, USC’s second-half performance was more so, as the Trojans were completely dominant in all three phases of the game.

“Just a really, really good speech,” Riley said, joking about what inspired his team’s second-half resurrection.

While the toughness of Moss and the Trojan offense received much of the plaudits for USC’s improved play, it was once again Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s unit that inspired the team’s turnaround.

After giving up explosive plays left and right in the first half, the Trojan defense put redshirt sophomore quarterback Braedyn Locke and the Badger offense on lockdown in the second half — shrinking the field and the playbook until Wisconsin Head Coach Luke Fickell was out of ideas.

Wisconsin mustered just 82 yards of offense in the second half, as the Trojans refused to take their seatbelts off, even when defensive personnel changed, and the game was clearly wrapped up. Despite the big first half, the Badgers finished with just 286 yards of total offense — less than they amassed in their 42-10 loss to No. 1 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC) last week.

Lynn’s new defense seems to be forming a strong identity early in the season. The Trojan defense isn’t perfect, but it is gutsy and it is clutch. Through four games, USC has forced six turnovers, come up with five stops on fourth-down and held opponents to just a 26.5% third-down conversion rate.

Saturday’s defensive performance was also defined by huge plays in key moments, in particular, a momentum-shifting tackle-for-loss on 4th and 1 by redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Ramsey and a game-sealing pick-six by redshirt senior linebacker Mason Cobb. A true sign of the Trojan unbridled joy and relief in victory was that Riley didn’t even complain about the taunting penalty that followed the first touchdown of Cobb’s collegiate career.

“Yeah, it’s fourth and short, I mean it’s gonna be physical ball. So you know, we gotta nut up and make the play,” Ramsey said of the Trojan defense’s aptitude in short-yardage situations, as Moss burst into laughter beside him.

Moss, himself, had another day that left his performance, and his season at-large, difficult to define. He had two dreadful turnovers in the first half, including an interception on an inexplicable 50/50 ball he opted to throw to 5-foot-10-inch Branch, who seemed fairly surprised in his own right at what was likely the first jump ball ever tossed in his direction.

However, Moss did what does best. He took hit after hit but continued to get back up. He finished with 308 yards and 3 touchdowns, barely putting a foot wrong in the second half after an opening thirty minutes that had some in the crowd calling for redshirt sophomore quarterback Jayden Maiava. Talk of Moss’s toughness, leadership and resiliency may sound cliché, but these traits are tangible — and so are the effect that they have on his teammates.

“[Moss] had some tough plays, but the one thing we say in that room, and always have is, you show me a tough team, I’ll show you a tough quarterback. You show me a soft team, I’ll show you a soft quarterback,” Riley said.

Moss will not be in the running for the Heisman Trophy, as some have hastily contended, but the Trojans have bought into his persona and trust him to lead them through a season of grueling Big Ten football.

USC will continue that journey next week with a first trip to Minneapolis since 2010, as it seeks to bring a first-ever away win in Big Ten conference play back to L.A. The Trojans will take on the Gophers on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. local time at Huntington Bank Stadium.