COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football has its first road trip of the season this week, and its travel schedule will look different than usual ahead of Saturday’s game at Washington.
The Buckeyes will leave Columbus on Thursday, a day earlier than it typically leaves for a regular season road game.
“We think that’s the best way to go,” coach Ryan Day said Tuesday.
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The rest of Ohio State’s week will be normal, though Thursday’s practice will be a bit earlier.
The decision was based off a plethora of insight gathered by Day, strength coach Mick Marotti and other members of the staff. They consulted with people in the NFL and other professional leagues where traveling across time zones is routine.
“We always want to get better,” Day said. “We’ve done a lot of studying on this.”
Last year, Ohio State’s lone regular season trip out west was to Oregon — a 32-31 loss for the Buckeyes.
Day said there wasn’t anything “sports science-wise” that went wrong for Ohio State because of its decision to travel Friday before the game.
“I thought we were ready,” Day said. “We were playing fast.”
However, Ohio State looked much better the second time it played Oregon in the Rose Bowl, which factored into the decision to travel earlier this week.
The Buckeyes were at their best in the College Football Playoff last season. Ahead of those neutral site games in Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta, the team arrived earlier than it would in the regular season.
OSU hopes to see a similar success in its Big Ten opener this weekend.