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Six weeks of the college football season have passed, which presented a new worrisome trend for Big Ten teams traveling across two or more time zones to play road games. In these games, these teams have only gone 2-10, with a 1-8 record in conference games. Only UCLA and Indiana have put wins in the column, and the Big Ten teams have since lost ten straight games after long road trips. However, Ohio State Football coach Ryan Day didn't seem worried when presented with this Big Ten information on Tuesday, ahead of their matchup with the Oregon Ducks.
“I don't really see it as much of a challenge that way,” the coach said, via a report from Dan Hope for Eleven Warriors. “I think it's a four-and-a-half flight. It's a couple hours more than Nebraska. And we're going to stay on East Coast time, and I think we've got a good plan. We're going to stay on our time schedule, and the time of the game and everything fits kind of how we practice. So we're not going to look too much into it.”
Day also stressed, “Again, it's only a couple hours more than Nebraska. So that's kind of how we're looking at it and not making it a bigger deal than it is.”
Ryan Day on Ohio State Football and the Big Ten
For Ohio State's matchup versus the Ducks on Saturday night, the Buckeyes will travel over 2,000 miles on Friday at Autzen Stadium. Still, they come into that game mindful of the trend of travel influencing a Big Ten team's chances to win or lose.
Some of the biggest upsets this season have involved travel, such as Alabama losing to Vanderbilt, and Tennessee losing to Arkansas. However, OSU fans can rest easier based on the fact that that Ohio State Football is ranked second in the country.
Moreover, most sportsbooks put Ohio State over Oregon by three to 3.5 points. On the other hand, Oregon is a stronger team than many of the teams that have lost in upsets, while Autzen Stadium is notorious as one of the toughest stadiums to play in college football.
For example, the Ducks have gone 31-1 at home since 2019, losing only once to Washington in 2022. Ryan Day's experience in playing road games will need to neutralize the trend of Big Ten teams losing on the road.
“It's important to handle the environment,” he said. “That's a big part of it any time you go on the road, you got to handle that.”
Trends aside, of course, football games are won on the field, and not on paper, and Ohio State are a good enough team to buck this trend.
