The USC Trojans enter week 3 with their first road contest and Big Ten conference matchup at the Purdue Boilermakers.
Traveling to the midwest with a large team, allowing a proper amount rest and meals, insinuated some travel adjustments, per coach Lincoln Riley.
Alongside UCLA, Oregon and Washington, the Trojans are one of four west coast schools in the 18 team conference that endure lengthy trips for away Big Ten games.
Riley offered insights to the media on how the team planned to accommodate a comfortable style of travel, including new form of transportation due to longer travel times.
"We've changed the type of airplane that we're in. It's a little different when you're, an hour and a half or an hour and 45 minutes flight, especially with the size of some of these guys. Then all of a sudden you're on these planes for four, four and a half hours," Riley said after Tuesday's practice.
Last season, USC traveled a total of 12,710 miles, averaging 2,542 miles per trip. The large number comes from their road games at Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, and UCLA across town.
This season, USC travels 7,298 miles. And the team will be in style in the new plane with a new eating schedule and upgraded research on sleep.
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The silver lining to the Trojans schedule are no back-to-back road games, with each weekend's travel being split up with a home game or a bye week. This season, the Trojans travel to Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Oregon.
For running back Waymond Jordan, the Hutchinson Community College product, a season in the Big Ten with a loaded traveling schedule is brand new to him, but looks forward to traveling by air rather than bus.
"Excited just to play my first big 10 game. Also excited to be able to fly to a game, obviously, in college," Jordan said after Tuesday's practice. "So that's gonna be greater than me for the most part. We bust everywhere. We flew to one game that was the national playoff game."
USC's new routine of traveling also plays into their practice schedule, and influence from their coaching staff.
For quarterback Jayden Maiava, having strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll apart of the team has encouraged Maiava and his teammates to utilize healthy habits to properly recover.
"Every time he has an opportunity to go out there, like with me, every Sunday, because we have like that. Monday's off. It's just a big academic day," Maiava said after Tuesday's practice. "So they'll ask almost all the players 'what is your recovery going to look like for Monday?' So he keeps us accountable each and every day, day in, day out."
What Riley also emphasized was prioritizing sleep for players, making sure they're allowing enough rest in between meals and practice on the road.
"We've made a couple changes in that, a couple changes in the schedule, kind of timing of eating, timing of what time we put them in the bed," Riley continued. "We've done a lot of research on sleep, and we haven't changed anything drastically from a sleep standpoint."
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Teddy King is a beat reporter for USC Trojans On SI. Teddy graduated from Ole Miss with a B.A. in Journalism. Teddy specializes in USC Trojans breaking news, Trojans in the NFL and NBA, and analysis of of the football program in the Big Ten Conference. She has experience in both on-site NFL production, including New Orleans Saints game and Super Bowl LIX, and in-studio soccer coverage with UEFA Euro Cup and Conmebol Copa America Cup with FOX Sports. During her time at Ole Miss, Teddy spent three years writing for the student-run newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, before transitioning into Sports Editor her senior year of college where she covered the First Round of the NCAA Tournament for Ole Miss Men’s Basketball in Milwaukee. She also was the also featured on The Paul Finebaum Show as a guest correspondent to discuss the 2024 Ole Miss football season — analyzing offense, defense and strength of schedule. Teddy’s role with USC Trojans On SI allows her to combine two of her favorite things: storytelling with sports.
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