Sherrone Moore shares Michigan football's travel plan for USC, Jim Harbaugh connection

In 2024, Big Ten teams that had to travel multiple time zones went 6-22. Last season, the Wolverines fell to Washington on the road, and head coach Sherrone Moore hopes to fix the jet lag issues that might hinder teams traveling time zones. Michigan plans on leaving Thursday to head to Los Angeles -- one day earlier than last year for Saturday's game at USC.

When Michigan gets to LA, the Wolverines will practice at the Los Angeles Chargers' stadium -- the home of former head coach Jim Harbaugh.

"We’re going to leave Thursday. Last year, the West Coast trip to Washington, we felt a little groggy, a little slow start," said Moore. "Guys played well, but felt like we just needed a little time to — talk to a lot of people in the off-season, obviously having Wink here, NFL background. So we’re going to leave Thursday.

"We’re going to do everything normal on Thursday. I know guys probably would want to leave early Thursday, but they need to go to class, still student athletes. So they’ll go to class, do all that, and then we’ll leave Thursday, be there Friday.

"We’ll get a chance to practice at the Bolt, which is cool. So I know they got an away game, so that’s another great Michigan connection, Michigan West. So we’ll leave Thursday, get there Friday, spend all day Friday, and make it as normal as possible for the kids, and then play on Saturday."

Learning from last year's mid-season slump

Michigan found itself 4-1 in 2024, but the Wolverines would only win three more regular-season games to finish out the season. Fast forward one year, and Michigan is in the same situation. But the Wolverines are taking the lessons that were learned from last year and putting them into play this season.

It all starts with this week by traveling one day early to give players the sleep and rest they need to go into Los Angeles and come away with a win.

"So this year, not last year, and we’re not — last year, there was a lot of lessons that we learned from," Moore said. "And I think the first one we’re doing different here is traveling, just the first thing is traveling on Thursday. But this is a different team, I think, with a different mindset and different focus.

"And we understand we’re in the second quarter of the season, and all we got to do is take care of today. Can’t even worry about the game yet, we got to worry about what today brings and how are we going to get better today. So I think that team is different from the one that we got now."

The Wolverines and USC will play on NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET.