There has been a lot of chatter around traveling in the Big 10. It started well before the season even started. Dan Lanning has repeatedly called out the miles his team has to travel every week. Lincoln Riley has talked about playing late on Saturday and then having an early start the next week. But perhaps the biggest display of the complaints came from James Franklin last week. After losing to UCLA in an embarrassing fashion, the Lions’ head coach cited travel among the reasons for their poor performance. Sherrone Moore has been taking notes, and as they travel to South California to take on the Trojans, the Wolverines’ HC has made some changes.

Moore has taken inspiration from his rival, Ryan Day, onboarding the flight two days before their encounter in California. This move comes after Ryan Day implemented a ‘flight’ system in his team before their game in Washington. It proved to be successful for Ryan Day’s men as they won the game with an extra day to recover, something Sherrone Moore would hope to replicate. Usually, the Wolverines travel on Friday for a Saturday game. But this week, it’s going to be different.

“Yeah, we’re going to leave Thursday,” Moore told the media. “Last year, the West Coast trip to Washington, we felt a little groggy, a little slow start. The guys played well but felt like it just needed a little time to talk to a lot of people in the offseason,” Moore added.

The usual Friday flights do not allow players to settle down or reset their minds. It is often the case that players feel jet lag during the game because they did not have ample time to rest. What’s even better? Michigan will get to use the facility of their former head coach to practice as they prepare for USC. Jim Harbaugh’s LA Chargers practice at ‘The Bolt,’ but they are away this week. So, the facility is available for Michigan.

“We’ll get a chance to practice at The Bolt, which is cool, 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,” Sherrone Moore said.

Why did Ryan Day implement the system in the first place?

Ryan Day’s Thursday flight system implementation came before Ohio State’s game at Washington. He wanted to design a plan that would address the situational difficulties they faced last season. Ohio State’s trip to Oregon last season ended up in a painful defeat, and the Buckeyes’ head coach believes time zone interference and fatigue from traveling were major contributing factors to the loss. Learning from the loss, the HC implemented the system against Washington and won 24-6.

Whether the system will bring Moore a victory remains to be seen. After all, one man’s treasure might not hold the same value for another. Michigan will go into the Big Ten matchup boasting a 4-1 record, the same as USC. The must-win game will decide the rest of the season for either of these teams.