Mapping out the ultimate Big Ten football 2024 road trip (2024)

Big Ten football is officially a coast-to-coast experience with the league’s expansion to 18 members this season. That means even more fun matchups and opportunities for fans to see new venues.

With that in mind, we set out on an intriguing and surprisingly difficult exercise: If you were granted one ticket per week to watch any game featuring a Big Ten team, what would it be and why? Here’s the catch: You can’t visit a stadium more than once during the season. And you can’t see the same team two weeks in a row.

Consider it to be a trip goer’s survival pool of sorts. Here’s where we landed.

Week 1

Temple: I’ve never been to Morgantown, so the Penn State–West Virginia opener stands out. Penn State is a top-10 team with College Football Playoff aspirations, and West Virginia is coming off a nine-win season, Neal Brown’s best so far with the Mountaineers. This series used to be played annually, but it disappeared for 31 years until the home-and-home that began last season in State College. It feels like a compelling way to kick off the season.

Dochterman: I’m going to take a slightly different route for the season opener and head to Lincoln for the UTEP-Nebraska game. It’s not unusual for the Husker faithful to ooze exuberance entering the season or celebrate a new quarterback. However, with a legitimate five-star true freshman behind center in Dylan Raiola and seven consecutive games against teams that won six regular-season games or fewer, Nebraska should be set up to make its first bowl since 2016. This is when the turnaround begins.

Week 2

Temple: I might kick myself down the road for not picking a top-10 matchup in Texas at Michigan, but I have to be strategic in advance of some lighter weeks on the Big Ten slate and don’t want to burn the Michigan Stadium experience too early. So I’m going with a rivalry that may not always receive national play but is high on intensity and pride: Iowa State at Iowa. The winning team has scored more than 20 points just once in the last five matchups. Should be a good old-fashioned slugfest at Kinnick Stadium.

Dochterman: No matter where the Cy-Hawk takes place (this year it’s in Iowa City), it draws around 25,000 extra people who tailgate without entering the stadium. It’s a mid-afternoon kickoff, which means from 5 a.m. until 2:30-ish p.m. the refreshments will flow as they can in only a few environments around the country. Oh, and this might wind up as one of the season’s most important games. Both teams could be dark horse College Football Playoff contenders, and the result might play into their respective leagues’ at-large prospects in December.

Week 3

Temple: The Apple Cup hardly screams Big Ten, but Washington and Washington State’s bitter rivalry has a new layer now that the Huskies are off to the Big Ten and the Cougars were left behind to fend for themselves. The teams will meet at Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, in a neutral-site game played in September for the first time in the rivalry’s 116-game history as part of a five-year continuation of the series.

Dochterman: This year marks the 88th meeting between Notre Dame and Purdue, which played annually from 1946 through 2014, but this is just the second time the in-state rivals have faced off in 10 years and the first time they’ve played in West Lafayette since 2013. It looks like a mismatch at this juncture, and the Boilermakers have lost eight in a row to the Irish. But the environment should be as good as any Purdue game this year.

Week 4

Temple: I’m choosing this week to focus on the experience with another nonconference game. And although I don’t know how good UCLA will be this season, I do know that watching the Bruins play LSU in Baton Rouge would be a bucket-list type of opportunity for most people. This has a flex kickoff time and could start anywhere between 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. CT. Bring on Death Valley.

Dochterman: “Who hates Iowa? We hate Iowa!” That’s the familiar chant at Minnesota home games, no matter if the Gophers are playing the Hawkeyes in football or a nonconference opponent in men’s basketball. But this rivalry, which enters its 118th edition, has returned to fiery status after Minnesota players and coaches lit cigars inside Kinnick Stadium’s famed pink locker room last year following a controversial 12-10 win. Considering this will likely be a night kickoff, the chant will be clear and loud at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Week 5

Temple: EA Sports recently ranked Spartan Stadium at No. 22 on College Football 25’s list of Toughest Places to Play. The venue may not be at full power on the heels of consecutive losing seasons and a coaching change, but the environment should be exciting for Ohio State at Michigan State.

Dochterman: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum served as host for two Olympics as well as the first Super Bowl. Now it picks up yet another historical moment with USC’s first home Big Ten contest, against Wisconsin. The game should also have major importance for the Trojans and Badgers as fringe College Football Playoff hopefuls.

Week 6

Temple: Michigan at Washington in a rematch of the national championship game! Well, at least the team names haven’t changed in 10 months. Many of the players, as well as both head coaches, from January’s meeting in Houston have moved on. Still, it’s a chance to check out Husky Stadium for a Purple Out.

Dochterman: In addition to last season’s national title game, Michigan and Washington faced off four times in the Rose Bowl. They were supposed to play in Seattle in 2020, but the pandemic wiped out nonconference games for both schools. The atmosphere at Husky Stadium this year will make up for that lost meeting.

Week 7

Temple: It’s Ohio State at Oregon in a no-brainer for me. These are two of the top three teams in preseason AP Top 25 poll, and Autzen Stadium is going to be bananas. It could also be a preview of the Big Ten title game, depending on how the rest of the season shakes out.

Dochterman: This is why three linear networks were willing to collectively pay more than $1 billion a year to televise the Big Ten around the clock. Setting rivalries aside, Ohio State-Oregon at Autzen is the game of the year nationally. It’s possible these teams could play two more times this year.

Week 8

Temple: This is probably one of the weakest slates of the Big Ten season. I’m picking Wisconsin at Northwestern simply for the opportunity to see the Wildcats’ temporary lakefront stadium. The venue should fit roughly 15,000 people and sits right on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Dochterman: The greatest individual performance in Big Ten history took place on Oct. 18, 1924, when Illinois legend Red Grange scored four of his six touchdowns against Michigan in the game’s first 12 minutes. In a stroke of scheduling fortune, the Illini host the Wolverines 100 years and one day from that historic moment. Illinois football doesn’t make lists like these very often (men’s basketball is a different story), but this matchup is well worth celebrating.

Week 9

Temple: Time to go to the Big House for Michigan State at Michigan. The Wolverines pasted the Spartans 49-0 in East Lansing last season, but these rivals have played some classics over the years and both have new coaches.

Dochterman: Camp Randall Stadium has a special aura for big games, especially night kickoffs. It’s undetermined whether Penn State at Wisconsin will air in primetime or another window, but the ambiance in Madison stacks up favorably against any site. So load up on a State Street brat, down a Spotted Cow (or a Moon Man for the beer snobs) and enjoy one of the great scenes in college football — once the late-arriving students shuffle in for the second quarter.

Week 10

Temple: I’m taking this week to visit Memorial Stadium in Lincoln for UCLA at Nebraska. It feels like Nebraska coach Matt Rhule has the program heading in the right direction, and Raiola will be deep into his much-anticipated debut season.

Dochterman: This is the greatest weekend of football scheduling in Big Ten history. Oregon at Michigan sits at the top for this list, but you can’t go wrong with Ohio State at Penn State, USC at Washington, Wisconsin at Iowa or UCLA at Nebraska, either. I’ll go to the Big House just to watch Oregon’s offense face Michigan’s defense.

Week 11

Temple: I’ve saved Penn State at home for its White Out game against Washington. Last season, a White Out victory against Iowa drew 110,830 fans, the second-largest Beaver Stadium crowd ever. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that, other than the visiting team?

Dochterman: Penn State’s fan base reached the freak-out stage in July wondering whether it would receive its White Out game and against whom. Expect a revved-up and raucous crowd to greet 2023 national runner-up Washington. Hopefully, unlike last year’s White Out, it will stay dry for those in attendance.

Week 12

Temple: Wisconsin faces three preseason top-10 opponents at home, and Camp Randall Stadium will come alive for all of them, including what could be a prime-time game against Oregon. If this game is close entering the fourth quarter, “Jump Around” will be memorable.

Dochterman: Wrigleyville is electric for any event, and the North Side will be rocking for the first two of two Northwestern football games Wrigley Field will host this season as Ryan Field undergoes significant reconstruction. The Wildcats may officially be the home team, but the crowd will have a definite pro-Ohio State feel, just as it did for Iowa last year. Perhaps this is the year someone returns a punt for a score at Wrigley for the first time since Gale Sayers’ epic 85-yard touchdown in 1965, back when the Chicago Bears still played there.

Week 13

Temple: This is a good opportunity for Big Ten fans to head for warmer locales as the Midwest cold begins to settle in. USC at UCLA provides the chance to see two rival programs match up in a new conference. It also means getting to witness a game at the Rose Bowl. There are few things better than watching the sun set on the San Gabriel Mountains.

Dochterman: I actually agree with Jesse here, but for the sake of something different, I’m going with Purdue at Michigan State. It’s possible neither team qualifies for a bowl game this year, but the potential for a snowstorm on a Friday night in central Michigan could provide a memorable experience for those watching on television. As for those attending, please drive home safely.

Week 14

Temple: This is why you save the Ohio Stadium pick for last. Michigan at Ohio State. The Game. Ryan Day desperately needs this one after the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes each of the last three seasons on the way to three straight Big Ten championships. Even if Jim Harbaugh isn’t at Michigan anymore, the stakes in this rivalry remain high.

Dochterman: There’s no game like The Game, and its importance to Ohio State cannot be overstated. The last time there was this type of desperation on the Buckeyes’ end was in 2002 when Jim Tressel led Ohio State to the national title. This year, Ohio State could lose and still win the national title, but a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan would taint the accomplishment. Yes, it matters that much.

(Top photo: Barbara Perenic / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today)