Lincoln Riley reveals how USC coaches handle late kickoffs

Even for a West Coast game, USC‘s home game against Michigan State starts quite late. Lincoln Riley will lead his team onto the field for an 8 p.m. PT kickoff inside the Coliseum. For the Spartans, their body clocks are three hours ahead at 11 p.m. ET, a weird dynamic due to the new-look Big Ten.

So what does a coaching staff do all day, waiting for a late-night kick? Riley explained his process on Thursday, admitting some extra sleep is a big benefit. However, USC still has non-game activities to accomplish, mainly on the recruiting end.

“Especially with the home game here, we’ll have a lot of recruiting responsibilities,” Riley said. “We’ve got a lot of recruits that are going to be here in town. So, certainly gives us some time to do that, to catch up on recruiting, to handle some of the meetings we might do throughout the week. We push a few of those things, from a staff perspective, to game day. It’s nice, it spreads out the week for us a little bit.

“It happens faster than you think in terms of — yeah, the game may be at 8:00 but there’s a lot of things in terms of getting the guys ready that have to get done. So, an extra hour of two of sleep and then business as usual.”

Scott Schrader of On3 | Rivals’ We Are SC put together the list of recruits lined up to be in Los Angeles for the game. High school players from across three different classes will come to town, getting a look at Riley’s program.

He also mentioned getting some preparation done throughout the day. Depending on when Riley wakes up, there might be double-digit hours before the game starts. The opportunity to spread out work is a nice option, making sure no stone is left unturned.

Once the ball is lined up on the tee, Riley will be ready to lock in. USC is hoping to get its fourth win of the season, wanting to start 4-0 for the third time since Riley took over the program. Earning a second Big Ten win would be a massive box checked too, not doing so last season until Oct. 25.

FOX will have the broadcast, with Jason Benetti and Robert Griffin III behind the microphones. College football fans across the country are ready to stay up for this one, hopefully being a great nightcap.