Lincoln Riley closed his postgame press conference Saturday with a message to the fans -- especially the ones who weren't in attendance for the Trojans' offensive slugfest with rival UCLA.

"College football on the West Coast and here in LA is alive and well, all right? And the people that were in that stadium, whether you were a UCLA fan, whether you were a USC fan, they won't forget nights like that. What an unbelievable experience," Riley said. "That's how it's got to be every week. And I'm not just talking about at our place or anything like that. If you're in this area and didn't come to this game and had a chance to, boy, you missed out. Don't miss out on too many more. Make sure our fans don't miss out next week."

He's right -- the Trojans' dramatic 48-45 win over the Bruins was an all-timer.

And most importantly, it keeps the stakes ultra high this week against Notre Dame, as the 10-1 No. 5-ranked Trojans continue their push for a potential College Football Playoff berth.

With that in mind, we break down the 10 most significant takeaways from the Trojans' performance Saturday night as it applies moving forward.

With the stakes higher than they've been all season, Caleb Williams delivered the biggest performance of his career on a night when USC desperately needed it. In a pivotal matchup with major Pac-12 championship and College Football Playoff implications, Williams posted a career-high 470 passing yards, every one of which would prove to be necessary for USC to eke out a 48-45 victory. It wasn’t a perfect showing -- in fact, some of Williams’ early lapses contributed directly to the hole in which the Trojans found themselves. Most egregious was the interception he threw in the first quarter, firing the ball over the middle of the field without identifying the creeping linebacker waiting to pick it off from underneath. It was an uncharacteristic mistake, the kind that Williams has carefully avoided over the course of this season. The turnover, just his third of the year, set up the Bruins for another touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The next possession was a critical juncture in the game; how would Williams and the offense respond to facing their worst deficit of the season to date? The QB answered right back by leading USC on a methodical touchdown drive. And from there, Williams was lights out, bringing the best of his play to the Rose Bowl for the remaining three quarters. He was masterful in pushing the ball downfield, finding his open receivers deep and hitting them right in stride time after time, picking up yards in chunks. His best throw of that variety came on a shot to a streaking Jordan Addison, placed perfectly in the Cover 2 hole for Addison to haul it in just past the cornerback with room to run before encountering the safety. Williams’ accuracy was on point at every level of the field, as he hit throws in tight windows with confidence and consistency throughout the night. His ball placement was close to perfect for much of the second half, delivering passes in the best possible position for his receivers to haul in even with tighter coverage on them.

His most spectacular throw overall came on the first snap of the fourth quarter, as Williams settled back to throw in the red zone and lofted the ball up toward the pylon on the far left side of the field. With Kyle Ford matched up against a tall cornerback on a fade route, Williams floated the ball perfectly over Ford’s head, giving the big receiver just enough space to reach up and snag it for the touchdown without the defender getting a hand on it. Williams' composure and determination down the stretch were palpable; he was hellbent on winning this game. The sophomore quarterback pushed himself to the limit, extending plays forever, scrambling like his life depended on it and hitting throws from a series of arm angles that very possibly would snap my rotator cuff if I dared to try them.

His brilliance from halftime onward allowed the Trojans to seize the lead and never give it back, thanks to four straight touchdown drives. By the end, Williams had delivered one of the best performances by a quarterback in this college football season: 32 of 43 for 470 passing yards and 2 touchdowns (1 interception) to go with 33 yards and 1 touchdown on 8 carries. His 503 total yards are the most ever by any player ever in the USC-UCLA series.

Williams’ otherworldly physical ability has never been a matter of debate, but his ability to lock in during crunch time has been the most impressive development of his season. This game was the greatest encapsulation of that ability; every ounce of Williams’ talent, determination and passion were on display as he willed USC to victory. Suddenly, USC looks poised to sneak into a playoff spot while Williams is positioned to be the frontrunner in the race for the Heisman Trophy if he can keep playing to his incredible standard.

The question of just how much Jordan Addison would be able to contribute in this game was up in the air before kickoff. He played a limited role last week while being eased back from the leg injury that cost him two games, but he made very clear Saturday night that he was back to peak, Biletnikoff-level form. The star receiver began to work his magic early, creating separation with ease on a deep post by sending his defender flying in the opposite direction with a jab fake at the top of his route for a 37-yard completion. He continued to make big plays, hauling in another pair of perfectly-placed deep balls down the sideline from Williams for gains of 48 and 35 yards (for a touchdown).

Down the stretch, UCLA worked hard to limit Addison’s downfield opportunities, often keeping a safety aligned over the top of him. It didn't work. Addison reached into his deep bag as a pass catcher, instead beginning to work the defense with his skill on intermediate routes. On a number of key moments in the second half, Addison worked himself open by the sideline to allow Williams to find him for key conversions. Despite the talent across the USC receiving corps, the trust Williams has in Addison is second to none. In those critical moments, Addison is the kind of receiver you can trust to bring in the football no matter the difficulty of the circumstances. His strong hands were on display as he plucked footballs out of the air with ease, reeling in each of his 11 targets on the night. By the end of it all, Addison finished with 178 yards and a touchdown. It’s safe to say that Addison is back at his best, and that’s a game-changing development for USC at the most important time of the season.

Week after week, Kyle Ford has continued to make big plays for USC despite his limited targets -- he's only had more than 4 targets in a game once all season. Those he does get, he maximizes, averaging an incredible 20 yards per reception. Ford’s ability to win at the catch point and his keen sense for creating yardage after the catch make him a big play waiting to happen, as he proved yet again Saturday. Ford rumbled for USC’s longest gain on a 49-yard catch-and-run, expertly snagging the ball away from a contesting defender and sprinting downfield. Later, he made what was perhaps the catch of the day on the fade-route touchdown described earlier, contorting his body and leaping in the air before high-pointing the football expertly. Ford finished with 3 receptions for 73 yards and 1 touchdown, once again making his case for greater involvement in the Trojans’ offense.

At this point, Ford has shown the ability to produce consistently, with reliable hands and an ability to create yardage after the catch. He’s outperformed Brenden Rice in the same role, showing far more consistency in his ability to simply catch the football. It may be time to give Ford more opportunities in Rice’s place moving forward -- what more does he need to show?

In Travis Dye’s absence, there was naturally some unease or uncertainty about the running game. Dye has been the unquestioned engine of the USC rushing attack since early in the year, handling three-down workhorse duties while Austin Jones and Raleek Brown only took limited snaps. His ability to run, catch and block at a high level made him an invaluable asset to the offense, one that would be very difficult to replace after his injury. Against UCLA, however, the Trojan run game didn’t seem to be lacking for much at all, thanks to the performance Jones put on in his first game as the team’s starter.

Jones picked up where he left off against Colorado, running with decisiveness, balance and power to generate chunks of yardage practically every time he took a handoff. Though his longest run of the game went for just 13 yards, Jones was a model of consistency as he gained good yardage on what felt like every single carry. He did well to read the lanes set up by his offensive line, showing the requisite patience to allow them to form before cutting through and using his power to fight through contact for extra yards. Jones ended up handling 21 carries and notching 4 receptions, capably stepping up to fill the lead-back duties vacated by Travis Dye. Jones took those carries for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground, adding another 57 yards on his receptions. He was everything the Trojans could have asked for and more in this pivotal matchup. His play on Saturday should inspire confidence in USC’s run game down the stretch; he appears fully capable of carrying the load as the team’s RB1.