USC and UCLA to Log Significant Travel Miles in 2026
When it comes to national football rankings, USC and UCLA often secure their spots in the top 20. And it looks like that trend will continue in 2026.
According to TripBalls, USC is projected to be the eighth-ranked team out of 138 in the Football Bowl Subdivision, racking up a hefty 16,290 round-trip miles for its five away games. The Trojans are set to face off against teams like Rutgers, Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, and their fierce rival UCLA.
Meanwhile, UCLA isn’t too far behind, sitting at 12th place with an estimated 13,636 round-trip miles across its five road games. The Bruins will take on California, Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota, and Michigan on their schedule.
It’s safe to say that a bit of gratitude is owed to the Big Ten schedulers for creating such extensive travel routes.
Of course, these mileage figures represent linear distances between stadium coordinates, not the actual distance traveled by road or air.
Leading the pack for travel distances is Hawaii, where fans need to fly to every game. The Rainbow Warriors are expected to cover an astounding 37,232 round-trip miles in six away games. To put that in perspective, that’s about 17 times more than the minimum distance traveled by Auburn, which totals just 2,188 miles.
Overall, all the teams combined will be traveling an impressive 1,093,266 miles over 770 trips.
As expected, teams that were formerly part of the Pac-12 are now facing some of the longest travels in the new conference setup. Stanford, now in the Atlantic Coast Conference, ranks second with 21,758 miles, and Cal is in sixth with 18,102 miles. Oregon comes in ninth with 15,968 miles, while Washington sits at 16th place, traveling 12,448 miles for their five road games.
Interestingly, you might wonder if bigger programs travel the least. That title goes to Rutgers, which ranks 116th nationally, with just 4,084 miles for its five road trips. This means USC will be traveling nearly four times the distance compared to the Trojans’ new counterparts from the East Coast.
Fans can look forward to the matchup between USC and Rutgers on September 19 in Piscataway, New Jersey.
