Big Ten Miles Traveled: Team-By-Team Rankings Skew Toward Coasts

By Bill Speros

Jul 29th, 2026 8:39 AM EDT

(USA TODAY)

The Big Ten's conference TV ad takes us from the Pacific Northwest to the Jersey Shore. As our Big Ten Miles Traveled team-by-team breakdown shows, no college football conference matches the Big Ten in geographic scope as it boasts teams on both coasts. The UCLA Bruins lead the conference with 16,324.3 miles traveled. That equates to 10.9% of the 149,282.3 miles covered by all 18 Big Ten teams this season.

Meanwhile, Rutgers, the eastern-most team in the Big Ten, travels just 4096.5 miles in five road trips. The fewest miles of any Big Ten team. Rutgers' longest road trip - to face the Badgers in Madison, Wisconsin on November 7 - takes just 1582.7 miles to complete.

When it comes to the Big Ten Miles Traveled and the conference schedule, Big Ten officials give their teams an edge over SEC, Big 12, and ACC counterparts. Those conferences have their teams playing at least 10 Power 4 opponents. But four Big Ten teams - national championship Indiana, Penn State, USC and Nebraska — face only nine Power 4 opponents.

RELATED: Big 12 Miles Traveled Teams Ranked

RELATED: ACC Miles Traveled Teams Ranked

RELATED: SEC Miles Traveled Teams Ranked

Our longest Big Ten Miles Traveled road trip comes with UCLA's game at Rutgers on September 19. It sends the Bruins on a 4,863.6-mile journey.

But the Big Ten also offers the 2nd-shortest intra-conference road trip among all Power 5 schools. USC's visit to UCLA and Rose Bowl remains a mere 24.5-mile round-trip. Only Duke's annual clash against North Carolina in the ACC covers fewer round-trip miles (16.7).

Big Ten Miles Traveled: All 18 Teams Ranked

Here the team-by-team breakdown of the miles traveled by each of the 18 Big Ten teams this season. The Big Ten Championship Game takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 5.

2025 Season

Big Ten Away Travel Miles Ranked

All 18 teams · Vincenty's inverse formula · Round trips from home stadium · Includes neutral site & non-conference away games

✈️

149,282 mi

Total B1G Miles

All 18 teams combined

📍

8,293 mi

B1G Average

Per team, per season

🏆

24.5 mi

Shortest Trip

USC → UCLA (RT)

🗺️

4,863.6 mi

Longest Trip

USC → Rutgers (RT)

Ranked most to fewest travel miles · Vincenty's inverse formula · ESPN team logos · 2025 season schedules

← Most Miles

1

USC

5 trips · 3,265 mi avg RT

Heaviest

16,324

rt mi

2

Oregon

5 trips · 3,199 mi avg RT

Heaviest

15,995

rt mi

3

UCLA

5 trips · 2,731 mi avg RT

Heaviest

13,656

rt mi

4

Washington

5 trips · 2,494 mi avg RT

Heaviest

12,470

rt mi

5

Maryland

5 trips · 1,820 mi avg RT

Heavy

9,098

rt mi

6

Ohio State

5 trips · 1,771 mi avg RT

Heavy

8,853

rt mi

7

Nebraska

5 trips · 1,558 mi avg RT

Heavy

7,789

rt mi

8

Wisconsin

6 trips · 1,159 mi avg RT

Mid

6,951

rt mi

9

Minnesota

5 trips · 1,373 mi avg RT

Mid

6,866

rt mi

Fewest Miles →

10

Penn State

5 trips · 1,341 mi avg RT

Mid

6,705

rt mi

11

Indiana

4 trips · 1,666 mi avg RT

Mid

6,662

rt mi

12

Michigan

4 trips · 1,571 mi avg RT

Mid

6,282

rt mi

13

Michigan State

5 trips · 1,145 mi avg RT

Mid

5,724

rt mi

14

Illinois

4 trips · 1,422 mi avg RT

Mid

5,688

rt mi

15

Northwestern

5 trips · 1,114 mi avg RT

Light

5,572

rt mi

16

Purdue

5 trips · 1,064 mi avg RT

Light

5,321

rt mi

17

Iowa

5 trips · 1,046 mi avg RT

Light

5,228

rt mi

18

Rutgers

5 trips · 819 mi avg RT

Lightest

4,097

rt mi

Editorial projection · Vincenty's inverse formula using GPS stadium coordinates · Round trips from each team's home stadium · Neutral site & non-conference away games included · Team logos via ESPN CDN · Updated May 2025

Our computations are determined from stadium-to-stadium for each game. We measure our distance based on the coordinates of each stadium's site, as noted on Google Earth. We then use Vincenty's inverse formula, which takes into account the orbital shape of the Earth being flattened at its poles, to determine the one-way and round-trip distances. The calculations are performed by Claude AI.

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Big Ten Enters 2026 With Natty Bragging Rights - Again

The Big Ten enters 2026 with national championship bragging rights for the third straight season. Curt Cignetti's Indiana Hoosiers completed perhaps the greatest college football season of all time in January with a win over Miami in the national championship game. The 16-0 Hoosiers lost - among others - Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza to Michigan alum Tom Brady and the LA Raiders.

Ohio State enters the summer as +180 favorites to win the Big Ten at DraftKings. Traders on Kalshi have the Buckeyes with a 31% chance to win the conference. It's almost is if Ryan Day is already sitting on third base.

2025 Preseason

Via DraftKings

Big Ten Championship Game Odds

Preseason odds to win the 2025 Big Ten Championship Game · Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis · Dec. 6, 2025

🏆

+180

Favorite

Ohio State · 35.7% implied

⚔️

+250

Co-Favorite

Indiana · 28.6% implied

📈

64.3%

Top 2 Share

Ohio State + Indiana combined

🎲

+100000

Longest Shot

Purdue

Odds via DraftKings · Coaches & records via document · Implied probability calculated from American odds

Favorites

1

Ohio State Buckeyes

Ryan Day · 67–9

+180

35.7% implied

2

Indiana Hoosiers

Curt Cignetti · 143–37

+250

28.6% implied

Contenders

3

Oregon Ducks

Dan Lanning · 47–7

+260

27.8% implied

4

USC Trojans

Lincoln Riley · 80–23

+1400

6.7% implied

5

Michigan Wolverines

Kyle Whittingham · 167–45

+1500

6.3% implied

6

Penn State Nittany Lions

Matt Campbell · 99–64

+2000

4.8% implied

7

Washington Huskies

Jedd Fisch · 23–22

+2500

3.8% implied

Longshots

8

Iowa Hawkeyes

Kirk Ferentz · 204–143

+6000

1.6% implied

9

Illinois Fighting Illini

Bret Bielema · 125–73

+10000

1.0% implied

10

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Matt Rhule · 59–50

+12000

0.8% implied

11

Wisconsin Badgers

Luke Fickell · 76–33

+15000

0.7% implied

12

UCLA Bruins

Bob Chesney · 120–49

+20000

0.5% implied

13

Minnesota Golden Gophers

P.J. Fleck · 96–56

+30000

0.3% implied

14

Northwestern Wildcats

David Braun · 15–11

+50000

0.2% implied

15

Michigan State Spartans

Pat Fitzgerald · 110–101

+50000

0.2% implied

16

Maryland Terrapins

Mike Locksley · 33–64

+50000

0.2% implied

17

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Greg Schiano · 94–93

+50000

0.2% implied

18

Purdue Boilermakers

Barry Odom · 42–47

+100000

0.1% implied

Odds via DraftKings · Coaches & records via team sources · Team logos via ESPN CDN · Updated May 2025

Meanwhile, three of the top five favorites on DraftKings to win the national title play in the Big Ten: Ohio State (+650), Indiana (+750) and Oregon (+800). They're joined by Notre Dame (+700) and Texas (tied with IU at +750)

Kalshi has those same Big Ten teams in its top six teams to win the national championship. Oregon is No. 2 on that platform, with an 11% chance to win it all, trailing only Texas (12%).

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