The Big Ten Conference notably grew its number of members this year to now have 18 total, and we knew that would lead to a lot more travel for teams, especially having to go from coast to coast more often with Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA in the mix.
Travel potentially having an impact on the road team isn’t new, but this year with Big Ten teams flying across so many time zones, a trend has emerged — though it includes some notable Week 7 exceptions.
With No. 2 Ohio State’s 32-31 loss at No. 3 Oregon in Eugene but Minnesota’s 21-17 win over UCLA in Pasadena to close out Saturday night, Big Ten teams are now 3-10 this season when traveling across two or more time zones for a conference game.
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The three Big Ten wins for the traveling teams came when Indiana topped UCLA on the road in Week 3, along with No. 6 Penn State’s 33-30 comeback win over USC in overtime in Los Angeles and Minnesota over UCLA on Saturday.
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Big Ten teams were 1-8 going into Week 7 after then-No. 10 Michigan lost at Washington, then-No. 11 USC lost at Minnesota, Michigan State lost at Oregon and UCLA lost at Penn State in Week 6.
But Saturday, Washington lost at Iowa in the early slate of games before the Buckeyes dropped their first matchup of the season.
“I don’t really see it as much of a challenge that way,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said prior to the Oregon game, via the Associated Press. “It’s a four-and-a-half-hour flight, a couple more hours than Nebraska. We’re going to stay on our time schedule. The way the time of the game fits is kind of how we practice. We’re not going to look too much into it.”
Obviously, traveling at least two time zones doesn’t guarantee the road team will lose, and, of course, there are plenty of exceptions and other contributing factors here, like Oregon probably being a huge favorite against Michigan State regardless of travel.
More exceptions to the trend are likely to come. But it certainly seems like the expanded Big Ten and increased travel is having at least some impact on how these games play out.
