Oct 19, 2024; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell leads his team onto the field before a game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium. Wisconsin won 23-3. Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Wisconsin Badgers Big Ten football schedule has one key advantage over conference rivals

Originally posted on Wisconsin Badgers on SI
By Lorin Cox | Last updated Aug 22, 2025 5:29 PM ET

The Wisconsin Badgers' football schedule will continue to be a talking point this fall as one of the toughest in the country.

Compared to the rest of the Big Ten, though, their schedule has one key advantage over almost everyone else.

When conference play begins, the Badgers will head on the road four times. All but one of those games is right near by in the midwest.

According to The Athletic, Wisconsin will travel just over 5,000 miles for their conf erence road games, so that doesn't include the Alabama trip.

Only one other school, Illinois, will travel less distance for their Big Ten road games this season.

Fact or fiction: Does traveling across multiple time zones have a measurable impact on athletic performance? @mitchsherman and I talked to a bunch of people to investigate one of the Big Ten’s most-cited stats from last season.https://t.co/5cSGNuDNw2
— Austin Meek (@byAustinMeek) August 22, 2025

The Badgers only have to make one West Coast road trip to Oregon, and they don't have to go any farther east than Bloomington, Indiana.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Ducks have to travel cross country multiple times for road games against Penn State and Rutgers, in addition to stops in the midwest.

Wisconsin should be a lot less jet-lagged than most of the rest of the Big Ten teams that could feel more of the wear-and-tear of travel as the season goes on.

It doesn't make the Badgers road games much easier, facing College Football Playoff contenders like Indiana and Michigan in addition to top ranked teams like Alabama and Oregon. But the lack of long travel is one small relief in what might otherwise be a challenging season.