Lincoln Riley Reveals Key to USC Handling Early Kickoff Time vs. Illinois

The USC Trojans will face an early kickoff on the road against Illinois this Saturday. Trojans coach Lincoln Riley recently spoke about how USC is preparing to adjust to the early kickoff time.

Sep 13, 2025; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stands on the sidelines during the first quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

One of the biggest challenges for Big Ten teams over the last two seasons, following the conference's expansion to the West Coast, has been adjusting to the time difference when making cross-country trips. The No. 21 USC Trojans will face that challenge on Saturday when they face off against the No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign.

Lincoln Riley On Adjusting to an Early Kickoff

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley speaks with the official during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The kickoff is scheduled for 9 a.m. PT on Saturday, which will be challenging for the Trojans players and fans to adjust to. In preparation for Saturday's game, USC coach Lincoln Riley spoke about how the Trojans are preparing to adjust to the time difference on "Trojans Live."

"I think it's just handling the entire week well," Riley said. "Because if you don't really recover, and give the guys a chance to recover, and if you're not smart with your schedule, you arrive home late from Purdue. You have the late kickoff here. Then it kind of flips and goes the other way. So, it'll put a lot of responsibility on us as a team to really do a good job with recovery here this week."

"Making sure that, A, obviously, we have a great practice week. Then, B, we can transition to get ready to play the game. So, listen, everybody's got to deal with it in some way, whether it's East Coast teams going West or vice versa," Riley continued.

The Trojans Have Faced Similar Adjustments Before

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans defensive end Braylan Shelby (10) reacts after sacking Michigan State Spartans quarterback Aidan Chiles (2) during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Saturday won't be the first time the Trojans have dealt with a kickoff time they've adjusted to. This season, the Trojans went through a three-hour and fifteen-minute weather delay against Purdue and had an 8 p.m. kickoff against Michigan State that was an 11:00 p.m. body clock kick for the Spartans.

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In its first season in the Big Ten, the time difference was a challenging adjustment for the Trojans as they played three games in the Eastern and Central time zones against Michigan, Minnesota, and Maryland. The Trojans lost all three of those matchups. Those three games, unlike Saturday's matchup against Illinois, were later kicks. Even before USC joined the Big Ten, Riley and the Trojans had to play early kicks.

"This will be our first one, honestly, since Colorado, our second year. That ended up being a really early kick as well. Obviously, we didn't have to travel quite as far," Riley said. "But, obviously, there was a lot of similarities, and we were able to go in there and start fast and go play well and win the game. So, yeah, it's just one of those things you've got to overcome as a team, and we've overcome the first two that were unique in their own way. This one will be too. We've got to rise up and get it done again,"

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) runs the ball against Michigan State Spartans defensive back Malik Spencer (43) during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

USC is looking to improve to 5-0 on the season as they face a motivated Illinois team that is coming off a brutal 63-10 road loss to No. 11 Indiana in Bloomington. It is expected to be a hostile environment in Champaign, which will be a key test for quarterback Jayden Maiava and the explosive Trojans' offense.