LOS ANGELES — Let’s get straight to the point.

There is no need for an introduction, warm-up or opening act.

No rice, no San Jose State, no cupcakes on the menu this year. We’re skipping dessert and just enjoying the main course: No. 13 LSU vs. No. 23 USC, a matchup so juicy it could change the trajectory of both programs this season and beyond.

Yes, we are talking about a match that we absolutely must win.

I didn’t think such a thing existed either. But think about the serious consequences of Sunday’s season opener in Las Vegas and tell me if that doesn’t change your opinion too?

The Trojans need This. The funny thing is, so do the Tigers, who haven’t won an opener since their 2019 national title campaign. That also means they’ve lost their last two games to Florida State under head coach Brian Kelly, who can’t afford to lose another one.

LSU is a 4.5-point favorite against USC, but let’s face it: This matchup between college football greats, who are in many ways polar opposites, feels like a coin toss.

And if things go the Trojans’ way, they’ll be on their way to a real run at the 12-team College Football Playoff pool.

It will provide a jolt of confidence as USC enters its first season in the Big Ten, an internal boost for a team that has been cautiously optimistic, and for fans and voters who have yet to figure out what to make of a team that lost five of its final six regular-season games last year.

A win will answer some pressing questions about what to expect from new quarterback Miller Moss and new coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s revamped defense.

And it will give head coach Lincoln Riley — whose seat, while safe for now, is getting warmer — room to blow off some steam.

It’s just his second win against a higher-ranked team since taking over in 2022. The only other victory came in last season’s Holiday Bowl against No. 15 Louisville, a game in which USC — which entered the season ranked No. 6 — was unranked.

A victory like that on Sunday? With all eyes on what will be the only football game in America that night? Against an opponent who can demand that Riley show all his cards?

A tone-setting triumph. Progress for real.

But turn it around and the opportunity becomes a catastrophe. The big break is a bad break. It gets very dark very quickly in that hole the Trojans have dug for themselves.

Remember when Oregon got a big blow from No. 3 Georgia in the season opener two seasons ago? And how the Ducks fell from No. 11 to outside the top 25?

Such a trip up would mean a lot of ground to make up for for a playoff contender — especially one with such a tough schedule ahead: After Utah State on Sept. 7, the Trojans play at No. 9 Michigan, host Wisconsin, travel to Minnesota and then host No. 8 Penn State.

And what if we only get wrong answers to those questions about Moss and whether he can adequately fill the Bear-sized studs of former Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams? Or even resemble the QB who threw himself a six-touchdown coming-out party in the Holiday Bowl?

Do you think those Big Ten opponents will be licking their lips?

And what if Lynn’s defense isn’t better? enough? What if we learn that the success he had last season with UCLA’s top-10 defense had less to do with him and his schemes and more to do with the NFL talent he inherited from his one season with Westwood, Laiatu Latu and Darius Muasau and the Murphy twins Gabriel and Grayson?

Imagine the pressure increases and you get a headache.

And imagine the hot takes on ESPN’s “First Take” when it comes to the Trojans’ coach. Riley enters Sunday with a 19-8 record since leaving Oklahoma, and he’s already been labeled a “disaster” and responsible for “one of the worst coaching jobs I’ve ever seen” by Paul Finebaum — what worse can this guy come up with? How long before he turns vitriol choir from boos?

And I wonder: What will Finebaum do if USC wins?

There is one guaranteed winner in this game, which can go either way: you, the fan.

We, the interested spectators, are treated to a heavyweight fight outside of the conference, which will likely soon be virtually extinct.