Lincoln Riley frustrated by early kickoff time for USC football showdown with Illinois

On Saturday, USC football will travel to Illinois for a top 25 Big Ten showdown. The Trojans and Illini are set to face off on Fox's nationally televised "Big Noon Saturday" game of the week.

While USC will get plenty of exposure in the slot, it will certainly pose a body clock challenge for the Trojans, with the game kicking off just after 9 a.m. Pacific time. This comes a week after the Trojans played Michigan State at 8 p.m. Pacific time, which was 11 p.m. back home for the Spartans.

Head coach Lincoln Riley is certainly far from thrilled about the early kickoff time. Following Wednesday's practice, Riley voiced his frustration with the body clock issue facing the Trojans this week.

"Going from the absolute latest kick in the country to the absolute earliest kick in the country has its challenges," Riley said. "But the challenges—like, it is what it is. We don’t make the schedule. Clearly."

Riley certainly makes a valid point about USC's schedule being far from ideal. However, he is not going to draw a whole lot of sympathy nationally. After all, it was the Trojans who made the decision to abandon their century-long relationship with the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten, creating games in numerous different time zones.

Ultimately, USC has no choice but to tough it out and deal with the less than ideal schedule. This week, that means playing a game at a time when they are normally still eating breakfast.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Lincoln Riley unhappy with kickoff time for USC football vs Illinois