Big Ten teams are 1-8 when traveling across at least two time zones in 2024
Michigan Wolverines football took its trip out west to Seattle to take on Washington, falling 27-17 in a rematch of the national championship. The Maize and Blue had a disastrous fourth quarter and didn’t play well enough from start to finish, and it’s hard to know exactly where to place blame.
Players and coaches are taking the heat for it, but the truth of the matter is Michigan is one of many Big Ten teams to have traveled across two or more time zones and lost. While there’s no excusing poor performance or mistakes, and acknowledging the fact that nobody will feel bad for the loser of any game, this is life in the new, 18-team Big Ten, which added West-Coast programs Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington in 2024.
Big Ten teams that have taken trips across two-plus time zones this season are 1-8, with the lone win coming when Indiana beat UCLA, 42-13, Sept. 14. As The Seattle Times noted, though, that one comes with a “caveat.”
“The Hoosiers were coming off a Friday game, at home, against Western Illinois,” Jon Wilner wrote. “(They had an extra day to prepare and a cupcake to eat.)”
Michigan is joined by USC, Michigan State, Washington, Northwestern, UCLA and Wisconsin as teams that took long trips to drop a game.
“To be clear: There is more to the losses noted above than taxing travel,” Wilner wrote. “But it stands to reason that the impact of air miles logged and time zones crossed adds to the timeless challenges posed by matchups, injuries and mistakes.”
Here are all of the games so far in which one team traveled across two or more time zones:
| Date | Away Team | Opponent | Result |
| Oct. 5 | Michigan | Washington | L, 27-17 |
| Oct. 5 | USC | Minnesota | L, 24-17 |
| Oct. 5 | UCLA | Penn State | L, 27-11 |
| Oct. 4 | Michigan State | Oregon | L, 31-10 |
| Sept. 28 | Wisconsin | USC | L, 38-21 |
| Sept. 27 | Washington | Rutgers | L, 21-18 |
| Sept. 21 | Northwestern | Washington | L, 24-5 |
| Sept. 21 | USC | Michigan | L, 27-24 |
| Sept. 14 | Indiana | UCLA | L, 42-13 |
It’s worth noting that, while not a Big Ten game nor listed above, Purdue lost in the non conference at Oregon State, 38-21.
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The sample size is small, so it’s too early to make any conclusions on how this will go in the future. And most of the teams that lost were underdogs anyway (but it’s not as if Vegas doesn’t also know that travel can take a toll).
“We should also note that of the eight road teams that crossed the Rockies and lost, only USC was favored to win its matchup (at both Michigan and Minnesota),” Wilner wrote.
“However, the trend of woe holds up with the betting line accounted for:
“Six of the eight losing teams did not cover the spread — a failure rate (75 percent) that’s higher than expected (roughly 50 percent) given the probability intrinsic to sports wagering.
“And the two losing teams that covered the spread, Michigan State and UCLA, both lost in blowouts.
“While the sample size (nine games) cannot be considered tiny, it certainly isn’t robust at this point in the season.”
More data will be added this coming weekend, when Ohio State travels to Eugene to take on Oregon, Washington is at Iowa, Penn State is at USC and Minnesota is at UCLA.
