Crazy...

[SWC75]

The complicated logistics behind Penn State’s cross-country treks to USC, UCLA

Playing a regular-season game on the West Coast is not as simple as just hopping on a plane on a Friday afternoon.

theathletic.com

Conferences were originally created to make things easier: you knew most of your schedule before the season began. Just figure out the dates and time. Your opponents would be natural geographical rivals, most of whom you'd played many times before. People could drive to road games. And the conference would come to represent your area of the country. Now the TV people are in charge and they want to unite major markets, even though college sports are about the smaller markets.

 

[SUDadx2]

That's a logistical mess for these teams that will be required to travel across the country to play.

Fortunately for most of the teams currently in the BIG 10 teams will only have to make this trip once a season to play USC or UCLA. However, the problem is compounded for USC and UCLA who will have to play multiple games each season across the country.

In 2024 UCLA has road games at Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Rutgers.

In 2024 USC has road games at Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue.

I think I read that USC and UCLA will be exempt from playing any road games with a 9am kickoff. But a noon kickoff is stall bad because the players' bodies still think it's 9am.


The Syracuse football team flies home immediately following games in the road. If the team plays a night on the road at Georgia Tach, Florida State or Miami they don't usually get back to campus until 2am or 3am. Football players are not built to sleep comfortably on an airplane so the quality of sleep, if any, is not good.

When these cross-country conferences are put together no one at the table is ever looking out for the player.

 

[djorange1989]

That's a logistical mess for these teams that will be required to travel across the country to play.

Fortunately for most of the teams currently in the BIG 10 teams will only have to make this trip once a season to play USC or UCLA. However, the problem is compounded for USC and UCLA who will have to play multiple games each season across the country.

In 2024 UCLA has road games at Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Rutgers.

In 2024 USC has road games at Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue.

I think I read that USC and UCLA will be exempt from playing any road games with a 9am kickoff. But a noon kickoff is stall bad because the players' bodies still think it's 9am.


The Syracuse football team flies home immediately following games in the road. If the team plays a night on the road at Georgia Tach, Florida State or Miami they don't usually get back to campus until 2am or 3am. Football players are not built to sleep comfortably on an airplane so the quality of sleep, if any, is not good.

When these cross-country conferences are put together no one at the table is ever looking out for the player.

Imagine what travel will be like for USC and UCLA teams that play 15-20 road games each season, unlike maybe 5 in football. It’s awful.

 

[Dinkyspond]

Imagine what travel will be like for USC and UCLA teams that play 15-20 road games each season, unlike maybe 5 in football. It’s awful.

I hope UCLA and USC teams freeze their asses off playing in late fall and spring semesters. Better put in your woolies on UCLA baseball playing in Ann Arbor in April.

 

[djorange1989]

I hope UCLA and USC teams freeze their asses off playing in late fall and spring semesters. Better put in your woolies on UCLA baseball playing in Ann Arbor in April.

I would rather see their administrators freeze their asses off, the players didn’t ask to go to the Big 10

 

[sufandu]

I would rather see their administrators freeze their asses off, the players didn’t ask to go to the Big 10

That's true, but, moving forward, any player that decides to go there is now deciding to go to the Big 10. I don't feel bad for them.

 

[44cuse]

The complicated logistics behind Penn State’s cross-country treks to USC, UCLA

Playing a regular-season game on the West Coast is not as simple as just hopping on a plane on a Friday afternoon.

theathletic.com

Conferences were originally created to make things easier: you knew most of your schedule before the season began. Just figure out the dates and time. Your opponents would be natural geographical rivals, most of whom you'd played many times before. People could drive to road games. And the conference would come to represent your area of the country. Now the TV people are in charge and they want to unite major markets, even though college sports are about the smaller markets.

It's the worst. Just absolutely the worst. I get that it's the old man syndrome, but in many ways "those old men" were right. Geographical alignment may be old school, but it's still the best IMO.

44cuse

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I hope UCLA and USC teams freeze their asses off playing in late fall and spring semesters. Better put in your woolies on UCLA baseball playing in Ann Arbor in April.

Why wish ill on the athletes?

 

[NJCuse97]

Why wish I’ll on the athletes?

I will say that in some ways, the athletes are complicit in the destruction of conferences. Athletes that choose to go to USC or UCLA as example are doing so for additional exposure, or money that they will get being in the B1G over the local PAC team, or perhaps east coast team. If that results in better recruiting and on field performance for USC, that encourages other smaller conference schools to follow suit.

 

[hoopsupstate]

In a perfect world, every conference would be set up regionally and all tv revenue would be divided up equally amongst all schools. We could go back to creating natural rivalries and making shorter trips for all athletes.

 

[kcsu]

Its an extra 2-hour flight each way. These kids fly charter flights direct I don't see it as that big of a deal.

 

[All4SU]

That's a logistical mess for these teams that will be required to travel across the country to play.

Fortunately for most of the teams currently in the BIG 10 teams will only have to make this trip once a season to play USC or UCLA. However, the problem is compounded for USC and UCLA who will have to play multiple games each season across the country.

In 2024 UCLA has road games at Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Rutgers.

In 2024 USC has road games at Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue.

I think I read that USC and UCLA will be exempt from playing any road games with a 9am kickoff. But a noon kickoff is stall bad because the players' bodies still think it's 9am.


The Syracuse football team flies home immediately following games in the road. If the team plays a night on the road at Georgia Tach, Florida State or Miami they don't usually get back to campus until 2am or 3am. Football players are not built to sleep comfortably on an airplane so the quality of sleep, if any, is not good.

When these cross-country conferences are put together no one at the table is ever looking out for the player.

And I sure hope little Johnny is getting all his schoolwork done with all this time traveling.

 

[orangemass]

And I sure hope little Johnny is getting all his schoolwork done with all this time traveling.

Johnny can play guitar

 

[SmilinBob]

I'm surprised John Kerry doesn't talk about this. Universities are a do as I say but not as I do group of money grabbers.

 

[GeauxSU]

Imagine what travel will be like for USC and UCLA teams that play 15-20 road games each season, unlike maybe 5 in football. It’s awful.

Yeah and then imagine when they go to Iowa and the Hawks trot out their three tight end-fullback package on a second and 6.