USC and UCLA face daunting travel distances in 2026 football season

In 2026, the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will experience significant travel distances for their road football games. USC is set to rank No. 8 among 138 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, with a staggering 16,290 round-trip miles for its five away games. The Trojans will compete against teams such as Rutgers, Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, and their rival UCLA. Meanwhile, UCLA will not be far behind, ranking No. 12 with 13,636 round-trip miles for its own five road games, which include matchups against California, Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota, and Michigan. This extensive travel is a direct result of the new conference alignments, particularly the Big Ten schedule, which has significantly increased the distances teams must cover. The distances mentioned are calculated as straight-line miles between stadium coordinates, rather than driving or flying distances. The team with the most travel miles in the nation is Hawaii, which must travel by air to every game, covering an astonishing 37,232 round-trip miles for its six away games. In contrast, Auburn, the team with the least travel requirement, will only cover 2,188 miles. The total travel for all teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision will amount to 1,093,266 miles over 770 trips. The former Pac-12 teams, including Stanford and California, will also log significant travel miles due to their new conference alignments, with Stanford ranking No. 2 at 21,758 miles and California at No. 6 with 18,102 miles. The travel demands for USC and UCLA highlight the challenges faced by teams in the new conference landscape, as they will be traveling nearly four times the distance of their East Coast counterparts, such as Rutgers, which ranks No. 116 with only 4,084 miles for its five road trips. This situation raises questions about the impact of travel on team performance and player well-being throughout the season.