Youngstown State head coach Eric Wolford said during the Missouri Valley Football Conference media call that his program addressed the travel issue in the offseason. The coaches did some research by talking to other coaches on how they go about their routines.

Situated on the eastern half of the Valley footprint, he said Youngstown’s travel situation is different from other league schools that are more centrally located. “We felt like in our road games we did jump out to early leads but we lost some of those in the end,” he said.

What will be different this year? He said they’ll adjust their eating and rest times and try to leave on road trips earlier than in the past. “We’ll do some things physically at the hotel the night before the game, increase blood flow and those types of things,” he said.

Leaving earlier is a contrast to the NDSU routine. The Bison do their walk through at home on Friday and hop on a charter plane early- to mid-afternoon. They have meetings Friday night at a local hotel, get up and play a game.