The Penn State Nittany Lions are staring down the No. 19 team in the country on Saturday night in a game that, for all intents and purposes, is a must-win football game for the program.

Penn State's postseason dreams are long vanished after two bad losses to Wisconsin and Northwestern, but they are fully in save-the-season mode. They need to lock in and fight to save whatever is left to save in their season. 

Nothing about Saturday's game is going to be an easy one, but here are three keys for Penn State if they want to pull off the upset. 

Two weeks ago against Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions forced three turnovers and capitalized on none of them. It was an offensive meltdown in the coaching, play calling, and execution on the field. 

It obviously didn't get any better last week, as they were in chase mode against Northwestern for the majority of the game. USC is going to give Penn State chances to force turnovers, and when those opportunities arise, Penn State has to both capitalize on the mistake and then take advantage of it. 

Penn State has got less than stellar quarterback play from their senior leader in his first two Big Ten opportunities. In those two games, he is completing just 54 percent of his throws for 357 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

For comparison's sake, in the same time frame, Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith has over 400 yards receiving and four touchdowns. 

Becht has been dreadful and his simply has to turn it around today. 

This was always going to be the risk when he made the transfer from Iowa State to Penn State. He was an average player for the Cyclones, and he has been below average for the Nittany Lions in the two most important football games.

Penn State's defense has been strong in every game so far. Even though they got out-physicalled against Northwestern last week, they need to get back to their status quo. This is still the best part of the Penn State team, and if they want to get a win, they have to have a good performance tonight against this explosive USC offense.

Penn State needs a victory and to do it, these three things have to happen in order for them to be on the right side of the ledger on Saturday night.