Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave summed up the situation plainly and succinctly earlier this week while preparing the Golden Bears for their road trip to No. 9 USC.

"We need a win in the worst way. We're looking to go 1-0 this week somehow, some way, form or fashion," he said.

Cal (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) is mired in a four-game losing streak amidst a brutal closing stretch to the schedule as they play their second straight top-10 opponent on Saturday, visiting the Trojans (7-1, 5-1) in Los Angeles as 21.5-point underdogs.

A road game at No. 23 Oregon State and home games against rival Stanford and No. 12 UCLA follow to close out the regular season, as the Bears still need to find three wins out of this final stretch to become bowl-eligible.

Wide receiver Monroe Young that the team is still optimistic about what it can accomplish.

"Obviously, we've gone on a little bit of a losing streak. It's obviously hard to lose, but I still feel like the locker room's still positive because everyone believes we can turn it around," he said. "[Coach Justin] Wilcox has obviously done a good job recruiting the right players with the right mentality, and it's a bunch of players in this locker room that don't quit easily and we look to turn the season around."

That uphill climb begins Saturday. Meanwhile, here are our five takeaways from interviews with Cal coaches and players this week ...

It's become a weekly question at this point -- how is quarterback Jack Plummer handling the mounting physical toll as he gets sacked and hit game after game.

He's been playing hurt for multiple weeks now, took 2 more sacks vs. Oregon last weekend and looked to be showing the effects as he turned the game over to backup Kai Millner later in the 42-24 loss. The Bears have now given up 25 sacks in eight games.

So how is Plummer feeling?

"I've had a couple more nicks and bruises than I have had previously playing this sport. I've been getting beat up a little bit, but I've been feeling pretty good by the time gameday comes around and have one thing here or one thing there, but overall I'm able to perform, I think, on Saturdays. I think that's just part of football," he said.

"... I feel good enough to be able to play quarterback in the Pac-12. I think if I didn't feel good enough then I probably wouldn't be out there."

It's not just fans and viewers noticing the toll Plummer is taking ...

He's a warrior, man," wide receiver Monroe Young said. "We all see it. We believe in him, we believe in the guys in that room as a whole."

Said offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave: "He's one tough sucker, that's for sure. He's really battled thus far through eight games."

He added that he thought Plummer's "neck was feeling better" and he "looked a lot better [Monday] than he did Saturday afternoon at the end of the game."

Plummer has mostly done his part for Cal's underperforming offense, completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 1,968 yards, 13 touchdowns and 5 interceptions despite playing behind a porous offensive line that is without one of its veteran anchors -- center Matthew Cindric -- for the rest of the season.

"Jack, unfortunately he's taken more shots than we would like him too, but he keeps getting up and he's a tough guy, he's a competitor, he wants to be in the game. He'll be getting his treatment and doing what he needs to do, but he's a tough guy," head coach Justin Wilcox said.

"You're always, at that position in particular, everybody will watch to see how that guy responds to getting hit. He keeps getting up. What we need to do is take some of those hits off of him, but I would venture to say that everybody on the team recognizes that. He's a tough guy, he's a competitor, and like I said he wants the ball in his hands."

USC, Cal's opponent this Saturday, is tied for ninth in the country with 26 sacks in eight games.