{
  "id": 3272514,
  "title": "USC season preview: 2026 Big Ten football travel schedule is kind",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/usc-season-preview-2026-big-ten-football-travel-schedule-is-kind",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-25T13:42:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/usc-season-preview-2026-big-134222123.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the 2026 season, the University of Southern California (USC) faces limited travel complications due to the expanded Big Ten Conference. Despite the challenges that come with the new conference layout, USC football coach keeps a relatively low-stress schedule.\n\nUSC will play seven home games in 2026, including a non-travel game against UCLA in Pasadena. This means the Trojans will only have eight road trips outside of Los Angeles and the Pacific time zone. Four of these trips will take them to non-Pacific time zones.\n\nThe first road trip is against Rutgers on September 19. Following that, USC travels to Penn State on October 10. After a week off, the Trojans head to Wisconsin on October 24, with Indiana scheduled for November 14. This schedule ensures that USC doesn't have any consecutive road trips, with only one sequence of road trips two weeks apart.\n\nThe inclusion of a week off after the Penn State game on October 10 allows USC to recharge before the Wisconsin game on October 24. Furthermore, the off week of November 7 before the Indiana game on November 14 provides another opportunity for the team to recover.\n\nWhile the games themselves might be tough, USC's travel schedule for the 2026 season is designed to minimize stress and complications. This gives the team an advantage as they navigate the new Big Ten Conference landscape.",
  "summary": "USC will play tough Big Ten games in 2026, but the logistics of the football travel schedule are as good as they can possibly be this year",
  "key_points": [
    "USC has seven home games in 2026, including a non-travel game against UCLA.",
    "Four of USC's eight road trips will take them to non-Pacific time zones.",
    "USC's schedule includes a week off after each road trip to minimize stress."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}