Big Noon treatment comes during unusual time of USC schedule

There is a lot of debate among college football fans about having a marquee matchup of the week being played at 9 am PT. Yet this is what the USC football team will face when it faces Illinois in Champaign on September 27.

The timing of this designation is what is raising eyebrows for some Trojan fans, though. For Week 4, USC will face Michigan State at 8 pm PT. To then have to go to a 10 am kickoff at the state's local time is something that is not seen all too often.

Still, something like this cannot be used as an excuse. It is something that instantly stands out, however.

The Fighting Illini will be the Trojans' most difficult test to that point in the season when Week 5 comes around.

Granted, it is more of an oddity than anything that will actually affect things on the field. By the time the next week comes around, there is not too much lost between what could be at most a nine-hour difference on Saturday. The weekday preparations will take the times into account.

Another point that needs to be made is how much better the program is operating at all levels under coach Lincoln Riley. Even if this was not the case, the timing of the games would not be anywhere near enough to serve as an excuse in the event of a Trojan loss.

Added aspect for USC to work through

This is still something notable worth pointing out. While some fans had expressed the hope of going from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten to mean a better scheduling aspect for the team, something like this was always likely to play out when going from the West Coast to the Midwest. In theory, however, it would have been nice for the new conference to take the geographic features of the varying schools' locations into account and to have kick-off times more reflective of the lengthier journeys.

For now, though, that appears to be too much of an ask, and USC has to simply find a way to perform even with these developments.