USC will be at a disadvantage against Penn State due to Fox schedule

On Friday, Fox Sports revealed its lineup of Friday night college football games for the 2026 season. Included on the schedule is USC’s Week 1 matchup against Fresno State, which will now be played on Friday, September 4.

While that will be USC’s only Friday game of the regular season, it is not the only game on Fox’s schedule that affects the Trojans. Notably, the Penn State-Northwestern game being played on Friday, October 2 should be notable to USC fans.

What is significant about this? Well, the Trojans are set to visit the Nittany Lions the following week (October 10). With USC hosting Washington on Saturday, October 3, that means Penn State will enter the matchup on one more day of rest than the Trojans.

Is having one fewer day of rest than your opponent the end of the world? Of course not. But it is certainly not an ideal outcome for the Trojans, especially given that they will already be facing the challenge having to fly more than 2,000 miles across the country to Happy Valley for the game.

USC has notoriously struggled on the road under Lincoln Riley. 2026 will be a huge opportunity for the Trojans to prove that their road issues are a thing of the past. In perhaps their first true road test of the season (one would certainly hope that USC should handle Rutgers fairly easily), however, their opponent will have a rest advantage over them. That is far from an ideal scenario.

As for the extra day of rest that USC will get from playing Fresno State on a Friday? The Trojans will benefit from that the following week against Louisiana—a team that they should blow out anyway. So helpful!