BERKELEY, Calif. -- USC played as complete a game from start to finish Saturday night as it has all season, dismantling Cal to the tune of 41-17.

As such, this installment of the First-and-10 is bolstered by far more kudos and compliments than critiques and criticisms after one of the Trojans' best all-around performances of the season.

And there was a lot to cover in that regard. Here were the 10 most important thoughts and takeaways from Saturday night.

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We’ve gotten on this team and coaching staff all season long for the collective inability to put together a coherent and consistent performance for four quarters. It’s gone both ways. Some days we’ve seen them get off to blazing starts before falling apart like they did against Oregon, and on others we’ve watched them turn in lackluster performances early and hastily step it up late as they did at Colorado. Gotta give credit where credit’s due, though -- Saturday night the Trojans managed to do what they haven’t been able to all season. They did what they were supposed to -- they put an inferior team on the ropes early and proceeded to throw punch after punch at them until there wasn’t a sliver of doubt at the end who the better team was. It was refreshing.

Once the Trojans tied the game after Cal’s opening touchdown drive, they would never trail again. Once they broke the 10-10 tie with a touchdown late in the second quarter, they wouldn’t lose the lead again. The Trojans came out of halftime firing -- there was no need for the weekly discussion over the coaching staff’s lack of adjustments because it was abundantly clear that whatever they were doing in the second half, it was working. Instead of letting Cal claw back into the game as they’ve let so many other teams do, the Trojans put their foot down on the accelerator and didn’t let up until it was time for the second-stringers to get their reps.

USC went on a 31-0 run to break open the game; there wasn’t a moment in the second half where it felt as though Cal was on the verge of taking back momentum. This is the way this team SHOULD be winning games on a consistent basis against weaker teams. That’s what squads this talented are supposed to do.

At this point, any and all talk about whether or not Kedon Slovis should be the Trojans’ starter at QB beyond this season is unnecessary. It’s been clear since the second game of the season that Slovis is a special talent, and what he’s been able to accomplish since being thrust into the role has only made that more clear. Over the past six games, the freshman has thrown for 19 touchdowns and 1,995 yards. Three of those games saw Slovis sling it for over 400 yards. Sam Darnold had only one such game in his career. This isn’t to say he hasn’t been put in a position of which any quarterback would be envious; Slovis throws to one of the nation’s best receiving corps, plays behind an offensive line that gives him plenty of time and has an offensive coordinator that’s willing to let him loose. Those advantages are undeniable and can’t be discounted when we talk about Slovis’ success this season.

Even still, very few quarterbacks have it within them to do the things Slovis has been able to do so far, regardless of circumstance. The freshman navigates the pocket with an ease that’s rare even in the NFL, he reads through his progressions with patience and possesses elite touch when it comes to actually throwing the football. There should be no question at this point that he should be the man behind center for this team moving forward.

The Trojans have struggled to run the ball for weeks, and Saturday night those struggles were even more glaring. USC’s backs toted the ball 21 times for 77 yards- that’s an ugly YPC of 3.67. Kenan Christon delivered 44 yards on 9 carries; 23 of those coming on one long run. The freshman managed well, but only got half the carries he did last week. This week that other half went to the newly-returned Stephen Carr, who split carries evenly with Christon with 9 of his own. Carr managed only 19 yards on the ground, largely as a result of the poor run blocking in front of him. The inability of the Trojans offensive line to move bodies off the line of scrimmage in the run game makes it tough for smaller backs like Carr and Christon to generate yardage. Part of the reason Markese Stepp manage so much success was that his playing style of running over defenders made it easier to mask the inefficiency of the run blocking. With no bulldozing back to make them look good anymore, it’s become abundantly clear that this isn’t a unit built for road-grading run lanes.