Huskers Historic Travel Trends: Record by Distance, East vs. West

The Huskers travel to College Park, Maryland, for their first true road game of the season this Saturday. After Penn State’s inexplicable loss at UCLA last week, the word “travel” has been in the news a lot lately. James Franklin listed this as one of the reasons his Nittany Lions lost their second straight game. On Monday, Matt Rhule assured the media that his team won’t complain about travel.

Huskers History

There are only two teams left that have yet to visit an opponent’s stadium this season: former Big 8 rivals Nebraska and Missouri. The Tigers will outlast the Huskers by one week before making their first road trip to Auburn. Mizzou ties the FBS record for the latest first road game. The Huskers have also tied their longest-ever hiatus before their first road trip at six games, which last occurred in 2022 after the trip to Ireland.

The trip to Maryland is the first of the Huskers’ two games over 1,000 air miles away this season (UCLA is the other). Making trips to both coasts of the United States will rack up some airline miles for the team. This season is the 10th most traveled in program history, with the Huskers covering over 7,600 miles round-trip (a bowl game could push them even higher). However, this ranks just 56th in college football in 2025. Penn State ranks 57th for miles traveled in 2025.

Directional Differences

In the College Football Playoff era, traveling east has been better for teams than traveling west, so James Franklin may have a point. Teams traveling east for a true road game win 42.7% of the time, while teams heading toward the Pacific Ocean have won only 40% of their games. The Huskers have underperformed compared to the rest of college football in either category. Since 2014, Nebraska has won just 33.3% of its games while traveling east, but only 16.7% when going west (note that it has played just six road games west of Nebraska).

Close to Home and Far Away

No team has been as dominant all-time as the Huskers in their region. The Huskers have won over 82% of their games within 250 miles of Lincoln (including neutral sites). This record was established mainly after Nebraska beat teams like Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State during the Big 8 and Big 12 eras. The LSU Tigers are second in win percentage against schools within 250 miles, having won 74.5% of their games all-time.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
Laozi

The Cincinnati game in Kansas City was the Huskers’ first game within 250 miles of Lincoln in the playoff era. The Huskers have fared well in long road trips in the playoff era, however. Among the 82 teams that have played at least five games 1,000 miles away from home, the Huskers rank 16th in win percentage at 58.3%. Penn State is two spots ahead, having gone 5-3 over the same time.

Matt Rhule has a record of just 4-6 when traveling over 1,000 miles to a game. He was 3-3 at Temple and 0-2 at Baylor on long road trips. With the Huskers, he’s 1-1, having lost on the road to USC last year but beating Boston College in the bowl game in New York City.

Despite Matt Rhule saying the team won’t complain about travel, he is being proactive about the potential effects it could have. The team is flying out a day earlier than usual, opting to arrive in College Park on Thursday rather than Friday, as they have in the past. The most significant effects that travel might have on a team are likely to be on the players’ routines the day before the game. If traveling a day earlier to the road game can help the players get the amount of sleep they need on Friday night, then it will help the team perform on Saturday.

A well-disciplined team will have mentally prepared itself for the game, regardless of how far away it is played. We will know in the first few drives how well Matt Rhule prepared his team for this road trip.

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