Caleb Williams gets his introduction to the USC-UCLA rivalry this weekend.

The former Oklahoma quarterback transferred to USC in the offseason and has been nothing short of spectacular during his first year in Los Angeles. But with the Trojans on the outside of the College Football Playoff field at the moment and a spot in the Pac-12 title game on the line, he’ll need to be at the top of his game over the Trojans’ final two regular-season contests.

UCLA first, then Notre Dame. If there’s a Pac-12 championship game appearance on the schedule after that, Williams will have a chance to play his team into the CFP field. Take it one game at a time.

That’s the approach for Williams this week, it seems.

Or, you can interpret his comments on Wednesday as some covert trash talk in the face of some very overt barbs from the other side.

“Haven’t learned much (about the rivalry) to be honest with you,” he told reporters. “Just treating it like another game. I’ve been in other big rivalry games so far in my career, so just treating it like another game.”

On Monday, UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson said “obviously we hate those guys across town,” and that the Bruins want to drop another 60 points on USC.

Last year, UCLA scored a record 62 points in a beatdown of the Trojans at the L.A. Coliseum. Thompson-Robinson was magical in the performance, hurdling defenders and signing a hat for a USC fan after a touchdown. But DTR also still remembers “bitter” memories from the year prior, when USC scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally from a 12-point deficit to win at the Rose Bowl.

“I remember it clear as day, cussing at us, flipping us off, as disrespectful as you can get,” Thompson-Robinson said. “So we’ve got to go out there on Saturday and do the best we can to win this game.”

USC wideout Jordan Addison said he’d be more surprised if a team didn’t want to score big on the Trojans. “We’re USC,” he said. “But they’re going to have to stand behind that. He’s gonna have to stand on them words.”

So much was made throughout the week about how two teams outfitted with a high number of transfers would approach a rivalry game they’d never been in before. But there’s been plenty of trash talk to go around and we’re still a few days from kickoff (5 p.m. PT, FOX).