No. 21 USC will travel to Champaign, Illinois on Saturday to face the No. 23 Fighting Illini and head coach Lincoln Riley is not too pleased with the 12 p.m. ET kickoff. His boys will have to figure out how to deal with stepping onto the field to do battle at 11 a.m. CT while their bodies think it's 8 a.m. PT.
Lincoln Riley isn’t thrilled about USC’s early kickoff this week in Champaign.
— Ryan Kartje (@RyanKartje) September 25, 2025
“Going from the absolute latest kick in the country to the absolute earliest kick in the country has its challenges. But the challenges — like, it is what it is. We don’t make the schedule. Clearly.” pic.twitter.com/BZxA2udfZR
“Going from the absolute latest kick in the country to the absolute earliest kick in the country has its challenges. But the challenges — like, it is what it is. We don’t make the schedule. Clearly,” he told reporters on Thursday.
No, USC doesn't make the Big Ten schedule but there was one easy way to avoid having to travel across two time zones almost every other week and still keep national relevancy.
Lincoln Riley only has USC to blame for Big Ten kickoff times
If Riley remembers his history correctly, it was USC that teamed up with UCLA, Oregon and Washington to destroy the Pac-12 Conference from the inside in order to jump ship to the Big Ten.
The Trojans literally asked for this competitive lifestyle and now Riley is complaining about not getting special treatment on the road, not being given prime time slots in a conference that already has legacy prime time-caliber programs.
Had they stuck with the Pac-12, despite its already self-destructive media negotiations, USC would've retained its ability to play games at a decent hour and remain nationally relevant. Now, Riley is willing to end historic rivalries in order to get his guys one less week in the Central time zone.
It didn't have to be this difficult, Lincoln. This is a product of your own school's selfishness and preoccupation with sitting at the popular table.
USC and the other four Pacific schools have made their beds and now they have to lay in them. If you're going to win the Big Ten, you have to be prepared to conquer the Midwest and its tough elements. The rest of the conference isn't going to have to go through you.