In the new look Big Ten, teams are spread out from coast to coast. This, as you can imagine, creates some travel nightmares for certain teams. So which programs will be earning those frequent flyer points the most this season?
The Badgers rank 13th this year for total travel miles with 6,245. While pretty tame compared to most Big Ten teams this year, that would have been the most miles traveled of any team in 2023-2024. The Badgers were the fourth most traveled team last season with 4,705 miles.
UCLA leads the way this year with a whopping 22,048 miles traveled. They have road trips at Hawaii, at Rutgers and of course all over the midwest. The other west coast additions round out the top four with Washington at 17,522 miles, USC at 12,710 and Oregon at 12,520.
It's no secret that home field advantage is very powerful in college football. Not only do you have your own fans in your own stadium, you also don' t have to deal with jet lag, hotels, early mornings, late nights and the list goes on and on. So seeing how this extensive travel affects these west coast schools will be interesting to see.
Wisconsin will need to travel to Rutgers and USC this year as their furthest road games. The Badgers will host the Oregon Ducks at Camp Randall as their furthest opponent in 2024.
Here is the full breakdown of Big Ten Travel
UCLA - 22,048
Washington - 17,522
USC - 12,710
Oregon - 12,520
Rutgers - 9,278
Penn State - 8,602
Maryland - 8,132
Minnesota - 7,349
Iowa - 6,793
Michigan State - 6,770
Nebraska - 6,658
Illinois - 6,628
Wisconsin - 6,245
Northwestern - 5,696
Ohio State - 5,633
Michigan - 5,193
Purdue - 5,140
Indiana - 4,894