“Going from the absolute latest kick in the country to the absolute earliest kick in the country has its challenges,” Lincoln Riley had a built in excuse during practice. “We don’t make the schedule. Clearly.” That’s the problem, though. Complaining about kickoff times doesn’t change the fact that USC Trojans were outplayed in Champaign. The Trojans entered as the No. 21 team in the country, only to fall flat in a 34-32 loss to No. 23 Illinois . Sure, the scheduling grind is real, but as Illinois showed, it’s also not an excuse. Bret Bielema ’s group came in battered from a humiliating blowout loss at Indiana and still found a way to flip the script.

On his show , Dan Patrick didn’t dilly dally, pointing directly at the optics Lincoln Riley created. “Lincoln Riley complained abou

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