As the Penn State football team prepares for this weekend’s important game against USC, the Nittany Lions must also prepare for a nearly 3,000-mile journey across the country.
With the Big Ten expanding to 18 teams this season, increased travel to conference games has been a major concern for skeptics. The Nittany Lions will experience this firsthand Thursday as they begin their trip to the West Coast, two full days before kickoff.
The long journey to fight the Trojans made us think. How big of a commitment is Penn State’s trip to the Golden Coast? We did some research and provided some perspective on three categories of the Nittany Lions’ journey.
mileage
Flights from State College Regional Airport (SRE) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) are typically approximately 3,500 miles. Unfortunately for Penn State, its journey is already off to an inconvenient start, as it is not possible to fly out of the state. Due to the short runway and large size of the aircraft, the Nittany Lions must drive 160 miles southeast to Harrisburg International Airport (MDT). From there, a flight of approximately 2,300 miles and just over five hours awaits them.
To put this in perspective, excluding the trip to USC, Penn State will travel an average of 602 miles between away games this season. This means the trip to the City of Angels will be four times the miles the Nittany Lions typically cover when playing on the road.
Not to mention, all of the Big Ten stadiums Penn State will visit this year belong to teams that were once in the Big Ten West. With no trips to Rutgers, Maryland or Ohio State scheduled, his mileage average is already inflated more than typical this season.
carbon emissions
There is a lot of travel in Pennsylvania throughout the weekend, which is sure to have a significant impact on the environment. A flight from Harrisburg to Los Angeles is expected to contribute approximately 500 kg of CO2 emissions per passenger. For an average-sized 150-seater aircraft, this equates to a total of 75 tonnes of CO2 emissions each way.
Remember, the Nittany Lions also have to return to State College after the game. If we double the numbers above, the airplane will emit 150 tons of CO2. This figure is primarily due to the combustion of jet fuel, which is equivalent to the amount produced by 9.38 American households annually.
The team, coaching staff and staff will be flown to California, while equipment trucks will be leaving the day after the UCLA game. 18-wheel trucks emit approximately 0.162 kg of CO2 per ton-mile. If the average college football program transports 13,000 pounds of equipment, this equates to a vehicle emitting 5.42 tons of CO2 per round trip.
The additional 200 miles the team travels to Harrisburg and back equates to 1.44 tons of CO2 emissions, assuming the number of passengers is the same as the number of passengers on the plane. This brings the total based strictly on displacement to 156.86 tons.
time zone
Penn State must adjust to three-hour time change before Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff The last time the Nittany Lions had to adjust to such a time difference was in 2023. It was the Rose Bowl. But for the matchup against Utah, they arrived in Pasadena almost 10 days before game day. Penn State will need to overcome jet lag if it wants to have a chance against the Trojans this weekend.
The Nittany Lions haven’t visited the West Coast during the regular season in quite some time. In fact, the last time Penn State played there in a non-bowl game setting was in 1991 against the University of Southern California. Including the bowl appearance, the Nittany Lions have lost all four times they have faced the Trojans in California. .
But is this the result of not being able to adapt to the time difference? Or is it someone else’s question?
Other than USC, Penn State is pretty dominant in the West. It holds the record for victories in the Mountains and Pacific time zones over the past half century. The Nittany Lions also have a winning record in the Hawaii-Aleutian Islands time zone thanks to the 1983 Aloha Bowl. That game against the Washington Huskies was the farthest Penn State had ever had to travel, 4,700 miles.
Jamie is a sophomore at DUS from Chappaqua, New York. He loves swimming and is a member of the club team here at Penn State. Jamie also attends Schreier Honors College and wishes they had an advanced college football fan course (118/133 on the Mascot Quiz). I’m an avid table tennis player, dairy lover, and in case you were wondering, I’ve even met two US presidents. If you have something to share or want to discuss the AP poll with someone, send us an email (email protected) or contact us on Instagram @jamie.ly3.
