Kirk Herbstreit wants to see USC respond on Saturday against Cal.

The 24th-ranked Trojans have lost back-to-back games. Things appear to be rolling in the wrong direction for Lincoln Riley, who has been battling a rising wave of negativity for weeks in Los Angeles.

USC opened 6-0, but flaws appeared in wins over Colorado and Arizona. A blowout loss to Notre Dame on the road was followed up with a 34-32 loss to Utah at home last weekend.

“A lot of negativity now swirling around this program. Someone said, hey, Caleb should take off the year, get ready for the NFL. When those kinda thoughts come around your program, this is a test of the moxie and maturity of Lincoln Riley and this team,” Herbstreit said Saturday on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay.

“They still can make it to the Pac-12 championship. They still can get hot. They still have the talent to do that. I’m just saying. It’s not like the season is over.”

USC is right in the mix with three other Pac-12 teams who have one conference loss already.

Two of those teams — Oregon and Utah — play each other in Week 9. USC will face Oregon later this year as well. The Trojans will host Washington in Week 10 with a chance to knock off the only remaining unbeaten team in the conference.

Recent weeks have eroded public confidence in USC’s ability to beat the top teams in the league, but Herbstreit cautioned against writing this Trojan team off just yet.

“Now, I understand you bring Lincoln Riley in there, you brought him in there to win Pac-12 championships and get to the Playoff and win a national title, and right now, it’s sideways,” Herbstreit said. “I’m just saying they still have one conference loss and they still have ability on that team. I just wanna see how they respond to all this.”

Kickoff against Cal is set for 1 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.