USC's Trent Mosley named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after big day at Penn State

USC freshman wide receiver Trent Mosley was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday. The award follows his performance in the Trojans' 31-23 road win over Penn State at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.

Trojans Wire reported that Mosley caught nine passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. It was his first game in nearly a month, and the outlet wrote that his return showed the USC offense is not the same without him.

Mosley's return gave quarterback Jayden Maiava a reliable target in a hostile road environment. He was not the only receiver to find the end zone in University Park, either. Tanook Hines and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt also caught touchdown passes as Lincoln Riley's team pulled out an eight-point win.

Mosley is the fourth different Trojan to win the conference's weekly freshman honor this season, according to Trojans Wire. Tight end Mark Bowman, running back Riley Wormley and defensive lineman Luke Wafle won it earlier in the year. Four winners at three different position groups points to a young core that is already contributing in league play. That matters for a program that has spent the first half of the season playing without a break.

That break comes now. USC has played seven games in seven weeks and is off this Saturday. The Trojans return to action on Oct. 24 at Wisconsin. The open date gives Mosley more time to recover after missing most of the past month, and it gives the staff two weeks to build more of the passing game around him before the trip to Madison.

Penn State gets no such rest. Matt Campbell's team fell to 3-3 with the loss to USC and travels to Michigan (3-2) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT on CBS. With three losses already, Penn State has little room left in the Big Ten race, and a fourth defeat would push the Nittany Lions further toward the middle of the conference.

The market expects a tough afternoon for the visitors. Michigan is favored at -212 on Novig, one of the venues offering the game, and the best sportsbook price on the Wolverines is -220 at FanDuel. The spread has Michigan favored by 6.5 points, with a total of 42.5. Full pricing is on our Penn State at Michigan odds page.

In Ann Arbor, Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht and the offense will try to recover from a loss in which they could not keep pace with USC's passing game. For USC, the immediate takeaway is simpler. Its top freshman receiver is back, and the conference has taken notice.