The No. 23 USC Trojans advanced to a 6-2 record after defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers 21-17 on Saturday. It was a big win that keeps the Trojans firmly in the mix of the Big Ten rankings. However, that didn't stop head coach Lincoln Riley from calling out the conference anyway.
Riley, who is 42 years old, blasted the Big Ten over the scheduling of the Week 10 contest against Nebraska, according to Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times. With the kickoff of the game being 7:30 p.m. EST, the Trojans didn't even get back to Southern California until early Sunday morning. The USC head coach doesn't appear to be a fan of late-scheduled kick-offs.
“Now thankfully, the Big Ten took care of us schedule-wise and we'll get home at 3 o'clock and turn this thing over to play on Friday,” said Riley. “And it is what it is.”
With the Big Ten branched across the entire nation, teams on opposite sides of the country have to play each other throughout the regular season. That's the new college sports, though, thanks to the conference realignment over recent years.
Luckily for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans, the program doesn't have any more games scheduled in the Midwest or East Coast. USC's next two games are at home, then the team takes on the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins in the final two contests of the regular season. So, although Riley called out the Big Ten Conference over the scheduling, the program has a rather favorable stretch in the final four games of the 2025-26 campaign.
USC is now set to take on Northwestern in Week 11. The game is scheduled to take place on Friday night on Nov. 7. It'll be a chance for the Trojans to earn their seventh win of the season and remain firmly in the mix for the Big Ten Championship game.
