ANN ARBOR, Mich. – There are still 89 days left in Ben Chase’s record-breaking college football road trip, but as a visit to Ann Arbor for Saturday’s top-10 showdown between Michigan and Penn State looms, he’s already traveled 18,000 miles, gotten four oil changes, and experienced dozens of different cultures within this great sport.
“Every drive gets a little bit harder,” he said. “My body’s going through it all, but it’s all good. I’m at like 89 days left, so I think I can do it.”
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OK, let’s start from the beginning. Who is Ben Chase?
A 33-year-old attorney who specializes in helping to build name, image, and likeness (NIL) collectives, Chase is a University of Florida graduate who loves college football.
“I’ve done these crazy overnight road trips to games before,” he said. “I’ve driven from Orlando to College Station overnight in 2020 behind a hurricane to see Florida lose to Texas A&M. I drive from D.C. to Gainesville many times because I’m going to law school. Overnight, I’ve done Orlando for a Friday night UCF game to Auburn on a Saturday night in the Iron Bowl.”
He’s been living in Tucson, Arizona, but these days, you’ll only find him in one of two places: the stands of a college football stadium, or behind the wheel of his van, “Betty White.”
Because of his love for the sport and his reputation as a road-tripper, people would often tell Chase to turn those overnight journeys into something bigger.
“People always would say, ‘You should do the College Football Reddit Ultimate Road Trip,’” he said.
Well, he decided to do one better. This offseason, Chase pulled up a map and all the football schedules to see what kind of adventure he could conjure.
“Just the timing of me leaving my last company, I had maybe two and a half weeks, or three, before the season started,” he said. “I pulled up the map and I kind of looked at what the record specifically for a road trip was. ‘What’s the most games in a season someone’s done on the road?’ It’s 50 by two brothers in 2016.”
That became his goal: To break the record for most college football games attended during a single road trip. Chase always drives to the next destination, and he never leaves a game early.
He checked out schedules for FBS, FCS, Division II, HBCUs, and Ivy League teams and crafted an itinerary that would take him to more than 60 games.
“I was able to get an outline at 62, and that was without knowing the times for all the games -- just saying, you know, ‘This is reasonable,’” he said.
He floated the idea to a few people and they told him to go for it, so his new full-time job is driving 50-70 hours per week between college campuses.
As we spoke over the phone Wednesday morning, Chase was in the middle of a drive from Tucson to Huntington, West Virginia, where he’ll watch Marshall host Louisiana at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Wednesday.
It’s a 26-hour marathon, but since that’s the only game of the night, you know Chase had to be there.
“I’m over 18,000 miles on the trip so far,” Chase said. “I’ve gotten four oil changes, and I’ll need a fifth one tomorrow morning, and I’ve had over 150 people either Venmo me, give me a ticket, or contribute to the trip in some type of fashion. I give out thank-you cards -- I’ve sent 90 thank-you cards, I’m way behind on those.”
This week, Chase will watch the Thundering Herd on Wednesday before heading northwest to Morgantown, where he’ll see West Virginia host Baylor on Thursday night. Then, it’s off to Princeton, New Jersey, for some Friday night Ivy League action between Princeton and Brown.
On Saturday, he’ll make his first-ever visit to Ann Arbor for No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 10 Penn State.
“Someone from the (U of M) hospital, she messaged me after she heard my interview on (ESPNU Radio’s) Full Ride, and was like, ‘Hey, are you going to Ann Arbor?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ and she was like, ‘I’ll get you a ticket and I’ll get you merchandise,’” Chase said.
He said if he starts the nine-and-a-half-hour drive right when the Princeton game ends Friday night, he should be able to squeeze in an hour or two of tailgating before the noon kickoff.
Sound like a long night? That’s nothing compared to the 42-hour and 41-minute trek he took to San Jose State’s Friday night game after watching UCF last Wednesday night in Orlando.
“I got there and I made kickoff,” Chase said. “That was a wild one. I went to the bathroom and I looked in the mirror and was, like, ‘Holy cow, did I get a black eye?’”
That was one of two planned West Coast trips. The second will come in two weeks, when he leaves a Sunday (Oct. 23) wedding in Washington, D.C. to drive across the country to Pullman, Washington, for Utah at Washington State on Thursday.
“I had to do two West Coast trips just to make it a real cross-country thing,” Chase said. “In San Diego, I went to the beach and my friend’s like, ‘You have to touch the water here and then touch the water on the other coast.’ So, I go to Coastal Carolina, and that’s right on the water, I think, so I’ll be able to touch it.”
He thinks there’s a good chance his road trip will reach 70 games if he can fit in a few more during Weeks 10-12. He won’t know for sure until kickoff times are announced.
After soaking in the biggest stadium in the country Saturday afternoon, Chase will head to South Bend for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff between Stanford and Notre Dame. On Sunday, he’s attending Alabama A&M vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff in St. Louis to cap off a five-day stretch of six games.
🚨WEEK SEVEN SCHEDULE🚨
— Ben Chase (@BenGChase) October 10, 2022
Games 24-29 of the 60 game College Football Road-Trip!
SIX GAMES THIS WEEK! SIX FRICKIN’ COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES!
Buckle up, grab an energy drink, because WE SLEEP IN FEBRUARY!
See you Wednesday @HerdFB! pic.twitter.com/7FyUTkep41
Click here to follow his journey on Twitter.
“I break the record at 51,” Chase said. “I’ve applied to Guinness World Records, but it takes 12 weeks for them to process the $5 application to review it. If they recognize it, cool. If not, it doesn’t move the needle on this story, to me, that like, ‘Oh, he was recognized.’ That’s such a small part of this whole journey,”
Wednesday night will be game No. 24. He said Saturday is the fourth time he’ll do two games in one day.
Chase typically sleeps in his van. He’s only had six couches and six beds on the trip, and two people have even donated him a hotel room for one night. Through 24 games, all but four of his tickets have been donated.
Chase records audio journals to talk about each stop. Midway through a journey to every corner of the college football world, it’ll be fun to see how Michigan’s atmosphere stacks up.
