SEATTLE — As thousands of Washington fans raced onto the field Saturday night, the Michigan players walked off, bound for the showers, the bus, the airport and a flight home that would return them to campus at sunrise. The Huskies’ 27-17 victory resonated deep into the past — in style and substance, it could have been a mid-1980s Rose Bowl victory by Don James over Bo Schembechler — but also signaled a surreal present framed by conference realignment. Where the Wolverines were headed, to SeaTac Airport and across the Rockies, the Huskies will soon follow.
Next week, they play at Iowa — at 9 a.m. Pacific.
Welcome to the new Big Ten, Huskies. And Wolverines. And Bruins, Spartans, Badgers and everyone else.
After weeks of non-conference matchups played on home fields, the league season has ramped up. So, too, have the cross-country trips. You’ll never guess how those results are playing out.
Teams traveling at least two time zones for conference matchups are 1-8 thus far, and the lone win — Indiana over UCLA in the Rose Bowl — carries a significant caveat: The Hoosiers were coming off a Friday game, at home, against Western Illinois. (They had an extra day to prepare and a cupcake to eat.) The eight losing teams that have traveled multiple time zones are USC (at Michigan and Minnesota), Michigan State (at Oregon), Washington (at Rutgers), Northwestern (at Washington), UCLA (at Penn State), Wisconsin (at USC), and Michigan (at Washington).
The list of losses inclu.