Who can remember the last time this happened?

When was the last time Stanford went down to Los Angeles to play USC — and was actually expected to win?

For the No. 4 Stanford football team, which travels to play the No. 20 Trojans this Saturday in its biggest game of the season so far, the better question is: “Who cares?”

“If you turn the ball over, if you don’t control the clock and you give a team big plays, any given Saturday you could win or you could lose,” said Stanford head coach David Shaw. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to end up with one more point than USC.”

Even though the Cardinal (7-0, 5-0 Pac-12) is reluctant to get too excited, despite being favored over upset-minded USC (6-1, 3-1), the atmosphere for Saturday’s contest couldn’t be much bigger. The Trojans are riding a three-game win streak and ESPN’s College GameDay is setting up out front of the Los Angeles Coliseum for a nationally televised prime-time matchup.

USC and Stanford have found themselves in the center of an intense rivalry over the past several years, with the Cardinal having won three of the last four games in the series, including a 37-35 victory last season on a 30-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.

But even though things have gotten heated at times between USC and Stanford — especially in the infamous “What’s your deal?” game two seasons ago at the Coliseum — quarterback Andrew Luck said the Cardinal won’t change its proven method.

“I think USC’s got a great rivalry with Stanford, but I don’t think you want to approach it too differently,” Luck said. “Obviously we’ve had some success in the past, so why change that for just one game? You’ve got to go every weekend and prove yourself again, and obviously USC presents a huge challenge.”

If Luck and the Cardinal want to avoid a letdown under the lights, they’ll most likely have to find a way to outduel the Trojans’ proficient offensive combination of junior quarterback Matt Barkley and sophomore wide receiver Robert Woods, who combine to form one of the most potent offensive threats in the nation.

Barkley, who is ranked just behind Luck as one of the top quarterback prospects for next year’s NFL Draft, has stats that are essentially equal to his Northern California counterpart, with 2,006 yards, 19 touchdowns and four interceptions through the air this season. Luck has fewer yards (1,888), but more touchdowns (20) and fewer interceptions (3).

Shaw complimented Barkley’s development over the past several years when talking about the improved Trojan offense.

“He’s always had a strong arm, he’s always been able to make every throw,” Shaw said. “I mean, we’re talking about a guy that started as a true freshman, so we’re also talking about a guy who has made a lot of progression since then. He’s become one of the best quarterbacks in the nation.”

Luck said he was unsure of how to feel about facing off against another top quarterback, even after Barkley passed for 390 yards to Luck’s 285 in last year’s game.

“I don’t know. I think he’ll probably say the same thing, you’ve got to worry more about the defense is doing,” he said. “You can’t get caught up in what the other offense is doing, because it’ll take your offense out of a rhythm.”

Barkley’s success is closely tied to the addition of Woods to the Trojan offense, as the sophomore wideout has caught 72 passes for 902 yards and nine touchdowns this season, prompting Shaw to call him “about the best route-running wide receiver I’ve seen in college football in 10 years.”

Woods also had a field day in last year’s game on the Farm, catching 12 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns — the most by any one receiver against Stanford all season.

Woods’ presence presents a major challenge to a Stanford defense that will be missing strong safety Delano Howell for the second game in a row. The injury forces senior free safety Michael Thomas to switch over to Howell’s spot, and makes room for sophomore Devon Carrington and freshman Jordan Richards in the defensive backfield.

Thomas said that both he and the newcomers absolutely had to do a better job of preventing the big play, especially if the Cardinal defense hoped to corral Woods this Saturday.

“Let’s be real, it’s out there — [Woods] torched us last year,” Thomas said. “We’d like to think that we’re not the type of secondary that lets any type of receiver come in and destroy us like that.”

“Last week [against Washington] it was poor decision-making by everybody on our defense, missed tackles, not being physical at the point of attack,” he continued. “[Carrington and Richards] definitely settled down in the second half, and we’ve already been communicating better this week in practice.”

On the other side of the football, Stanford will likely be looking to exploit an athletic but inconsistent Trojan defense that gave up back-to-back 40-point games against Arizona and Arizona State before clamping down to allow just 26 points in its last two matchups combined.

The Cardinal unleashed its most potent offensive performance last week against Washington, rushing for 446 yards on its way to 615 total yards, but the USC defense only gives up 91 yards per game on the ground, a stat that prompted several players and Shaw to call the Trojans the best defense Stanford has faced all season.

A win against USC could go a long way towards improving the Cardinal’s national reputation — and BCS rankings — but Shaw said Stanford can’t afford to think about anything extraneous, especially after Wisconsin and Oklahoma fell last weekend.

“Getting giddy or upset about the BCS in October is a waste of time,” Shaw said. “There’s not enough time to worry about Alabama or LSU or Oklahoma State…if we don’t take care of business, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

And even though the Cardinal is favored, Thomas boiled down the team’s motivation to just one sentence:

“At the end of the day, that’s still ‘SC.”

Saturday’s contest between the Trojans and the Cardinal kicks off at 5 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ABC.