Kickoff time, TV network set for Ohio State football game at USC

Ohio State will take on USC in a high-profile matchup on October 31st. The Big Ten has scheduled the game to begin at 7:30 PM and it will be broadcast on NBC, marking the first primetime game for the Buckeyes since their trip to Texas last month. Their five most recent games have all started before 4:15 PM, including three that were played at noon.

The Buckeyes' road to Los Angeles is their initial visit to the West Coast since the Trojans joined the Big Ten in 2024 as part of the league's expansion to 18 teams. They previously traveled to Oregon in 2024 and Washington in 2025 for conference games.

This will be the Buckeyes' first game at USC since 2008 when they played at the Los Angeles Coliseum to commence a home-and-home series with the Trojans. They lost a 35-3 game in their last start, which was played by quarterback Todd Boeckman, who was replaced by Terrelle Pryor.

Ohio State is currently on a bye week following a 19-15 victory at Indiana, which has moved their overall record to 6-1 and 4-0 in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, USC is in Madison, Wisconsin on October 24th for a game. This could potentially be a top-15 matchup with Ohio State ranked No. 2 and USC ranked No. 15 in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll.

Joey Kaufman is covering Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. He can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com or followed on @joeyrkaufman on X.