The Big Ten and ACC are coast-to-coast conferences now, and last season, the added travel gave teams real problems. The Buckeyes will have to make their first and only West Coast trip of the season in Week 5, playing Washington in Seattle, but Ryan Day isn’t concerned about the long trip.
Day addressed the media on Thursday, and when asked about the travel to Seattle, he called it, “just another game.”
Ryan Day doesn't think Washington being on the West Coast makes a difference in the Ohio State vs. Washington matchup:
— Chase Brown (@chaseabrown__) September 18, 2025
"To me, it's just another game," Day said. "It's a little bit further away, but we make trips to Nebraska, we make trips to Wisconsin. It's a few hours further…
Buckeyes hoping to buck the trend of struggles for “Mega Road Teams” in 2024
BetMGM defines a “mega road team” as any team crossing at least two time zones. Last season, stripping out Hawaii’s games before the Rainbow Warriors are also either traveling two time zones or being visited by a team that is, mega road teams went 33-36-1 against the spread.
That’s far from an alarming record, but the concern starts to arise for mega road teams who were favored by Vegas, as the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes assuredly will be in Seattle on September 27. Mega road favorites went 10-19-1 against the spread with nine outright losses. One of those outright losses was Ohio State, which arrived in Eugene, Oregon, as a 3.5-point favorite before falling to the Ducks 32-31.
Ohio State eventually avenged that loss on the West Coast at a neutral site in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff Quarterfinal.
Other head coaches in the Big Ten, notably Lincoln Riley, who has revamped his program’s travel process after a road loss to Maryland in College Park last season, and James Franklin, who levied more than his share of complaints at the conference about cross-country travel after his team was forced to take a bus from State College to Harrisburg to board a plane big enough to carry everyone to LA. The runway at the State College airport is not long enough for that distance of travel.
Day has kept quiet about the travel logistics of the ever-expanding Big Ten. His focus, rather, is on his team, adding, “It’s more about us, and they have a good team, and it’s gonna be on the road. That’s more important than anything – than being on the West Coast.”
Washington is 2-0 heading into a Week 4 rivalry game against Washington State.