I have not seen this posted anywhere, but I thought that it was interesting to see how the Big Ten is scheduling travel to and with the four new West Coast members of the Big Ten.
For the Midwest/east coast teams, they each make one trip to the West Coast, either to face Washington and Oregon or to L.A. to face USC and UCLA.
The "Pacific NW" travelers are Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Indiana, and Rutgers
The L.A. travelers are Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, and Minnesota.
For the record, the L.A. trip current grades out slightly harder right now. The expected number of wins for an average top 25 team traveling to L.A. is 1.038 games while it is 1.118 for the Pacific NW
For the west coast teams, they each play the other three west coast teams twice for six games total. That leaves seven home games and seven road games where the west coast teams need to fly cross country.
The pattern in the scheduling is pretty interesting. Each team take four trips total, during three of which they each play the same pair of teams
For example, Oregon took a road trip to play Ohio State and Penn State over four days. In early February, they swing into Michigan to face MSU and the Wolverines in the four-day span. Later in the year they hit Iowa and Wisconsin on the same trip. For the seventh game, take a trip to play only Minnesota, one of the western-most Big Ten teams. Washington follows the same pattern as Oregon, but at a different time.
For the L.A. teams, they do the same thing but with the other seven teams. In this case, the one-game trip is to Nebraska (the western-most legacy team). Then the pairs of teams are Indiana and Illinois, Maryland and Rutgers, and Northwestern and Purdue.
All things considered, it's a pretty good way to handle a pretty awful travel schedule.
For the Midwest/east coast teams, they each make one trip to the West Coast, either to face Washington and Oregon or to L.A. to face USC and UCLA.
The "Pacific NW" travelers are Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Indiana, and Rutgers
The L.A. travelers are Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, and Minnesota.
For the record, the L.A. trip current grades out slightly harder right now. The expected number of wins for an average top 25 team traveling to L.A. is 1.038 games while it is 1.118 for the Pacific NW
For the west coast teams, they each play the other three west coast teams twice for six games total. That leaves seven home games and seven road games where the west coast teams need to fly cross country.
The pattern in the scheduling is pretty interesting. Each team take four trips total, during three of which they each play the same pair of teams
For example, Oregon took a road trip to play Ohio State and Penn State over four days. In early February, they swing into Michigan to face MSU and the Wolverines in the four-day span. Later in the year they hit Iowa and Wisconsin on the same trip. For the seventh game, take a trip to play only Minnesota, one of the western-most Big Ten teams. Washington follows the same pattern as Oregon, but at a different time.
For the L.A. teams, they do the same thing but with the other seven teams. In this case, the one-game trip is to Nebraska (the western-most legacy team). Then the pairs of teams are Indiana and Illinois, Maryland and Rutgers, and Northwestern and Purdue.
All things considered, it's a pretty good way to handle a pretty awful travel schedule.
