When the Oregon Ducks joined the Big Ten prior to the 2024 football season, there was a knowledge that scheduling might come with some difficulty considering a majority of the conference — aside from fellow former PAC-12 programs — was located in either the Midwest or East Coast.
Head coach Dan Lanning, speaking to columnist John Canzano on the radio earlier this week, said that his program did their due diligence in terms of traveling far distances for games.
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“We talked with NFL teams and sports-science people,” he said. “We kind of developed a plan this summer about when these games would be played and our thought process. If it’s a night game, we don’t necessarily need to travel an extra day in advance.”
Oregon, facing off against the Penn State Nittany Lions at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, decided to fly to Penn State on Friday instead of Thursday, as they had for their Week 3 road contest against the Northwestern Wildcats. That game was to be played at 11:00 a.m. CT, but would feel more like 9:00 a.m. for the Ducks, thus the extra travel day.
Additionally, the Nittany Lions enjoyed a bye last weekend, giving them extra time to rest and prepare for its matchup with Oregon. During that time, the Ducks spent the week preparing for its in-state rival, the Oregon State Beavers, whom they defeated 41-7.
There are six other occasions on the schedule in which Oregon’s opponent enjoys a more extended rest period before playing the Ducks.
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Speaking on the topic, Canzano asked Lanning if that would happen to Ohio State or Michigan, traditional Big Ten powers.
“No comment,” Lanning responded, pausing before continuing. “We’re traveling 15,000 miles this year, and we play seven teams that have more prep time than we do. That’s unique, isn’t it? It’s almost like they didn’t want us in the Big Ten, or something, right? We snuck our way in, didn’t we?”
The scheduling arrangement was never going to be easy for Oregon — or USC, UCLA, and Washington, for that matter, all former PAC-12 programs operating in the Pacific time zone that joined the Big Ten in 2024.
Yet Lanning certainly isn’t pleased with how the conference has scheduled the Ducks’ games, and it’s not hard to see why.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dan Lanning frustrated with Big Ten’s scheduling for Oregon Ducks
