Michigan State football at USC given late-night kickoff in Los Angeles

Michigan State football’s trip to Los Angeles will be a Big Ten after dark affair. And it will bleed into Sunday morning.

The Spartans’ game against USC on Saturday, Sept. 20, will kick off at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT, according to the conference. It will be broadcast on Fox.

It will be the first Big Ten meeting between MSU (2-0) and USC (2-0), which joined the conference last season, and the league opener for the Spartans. The teams have split eight previous meetings, with the Trojans winning 30-9 in the last meeting at the Los Angeles Sports Coliseum on Sept. 29, 1978. The Spartans are 0-3 in road games at USC, 2-1 in games in East Lansing and 2-0 in bowl games, including a 17-16 win in the 1990 Sun Bowl the last time the programs met.

MSU last played a late-night West Coast game at Arizona State in 2018, a 10:45 p.m. kickoff time in Tempe that the Spartans lost, 16-13.

USC opens Big Ten play Saturday at Purdue (3:30 p.m./CBS), while MSU hosts Youngstown State (2-0) in its final nonconference game (3:30 p.m./BTN). The Spartans have a bye week after the trip to Los Angeles before heading to Nebraska on Oct. 4 (3:30 or 4 p.m./TV TBD).

The game at USC will be a homecoming for both MSU coach Jonathan Smith (Pasadena) and quarterback Aidan Chiles (Long Beach).

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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