Northwestern Football Set For Late-Season Friday Night Clash Out West

The 'Cats will play a big game under the lights.

Dec 27, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans wide receiver Kyle Ford (81) celebrates after a first down against the Texas A&M Aggies in the second half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Northwestern Football's 2025 regular season schedule is slowly finalizing, as the team released a few start times on X this morning. One of the times they announced was an 8 p.m. CST game on the road against USC.

Friday Night 'Cats 😼

📰 » https://t.co/jswcGggZoG pic.twitter.com/E61NY5MAC2

— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) May 29, 2025

This will be Northwestern's first matchup with the Trojans since the Big Ten expanded last year. It played Washington last season and will now take on UCLA, Oregon and USC in 2025.

The game is on November 7 and will be broadcasted on FOX. It is the fourth-to-last game on Northwestern's schedule, so it could have very meaningful bowl-chase implications for both sides.

The contest with USC was one of two night games announced by the team today. It will also take on Western Illinois in its second game of the season on September 5 at 6:30 p.m. CST.

In a separate post, Northwestern also released start times for weeks one through three. It will play Tulane on the road to open up the season on August 30 at 11 a.m. CST. But the more exciting announcement is a Big Noon Kick-Off matchup in Evanston against Oregon on September 13.

The rest of Northwestern's schedule remains TBD in terms of exactly what times the games will be played. But opponents and game dates are readily available on different websites.

The USC game, while not at home, will be a cool opportunity for this year's Wildcats to play under the lights against a beatable, but difficult opponent. If the 'Cats perform how they want to early in the season, it will be a big game in Los Angeles.