Onward State takes on the West Coast (again!)

Onward State hit the road, or rather, the skies, this past weekend as Penn State football traveled west for its first away game of the season. Photographers Sophie Yadzinski and I, along with writers Cooper Cazares, Collin Ward, and Oscar Orellana, made the cross-country trip to Pasadena, California, to cover the Nittany Lions’ matchup against UCLA in the iconic Rose Bowl.

Per tradition, our crew made the cross-country trek to bring Onward State’s coverage all the way to the West Coast. While the outcome was definitely not what any of us expected, our first road trip is officially in the books.

Sophie flew out separately with her family, while the boys and I traveled together, tying last year’s USC trip for Onward State’s longest travel mileage for an in-season game.

Thursday

The crew, minus Sophie, made our way to Newark Airport. However, we probably should have checked how much gas we had….

Uhh…can someone come pick us up pic.twitter.com/ahEChbgEKP

— Cooper Cazares (@CooperCazares) October 2, 2025

After narrowly avoiding being stranded in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, we were back on the road. We made a quick stop at Collin’s house in Jersey to swap cars and pet his dogs before his dad drove us to the airport, and we were en route to EWR.

Our flight took off around 9 p.m., and then just like that, an easy five hours later — well, for me as I slept the whole time — we hopped off the plane at LAX around 11:45. Oscar, who is from Los Angeles, graciously had his parents pick us up to make our way to Pasadena. We got to our hotel around 1 a.m.

Friday

Sophie landed at LAX around 9 a.m., while Oscar served as our tour guide for the day, and took us around all the must-see spots in Los Angeles. But first, we stopped for breakfast at the Black Bear Diner.

Black Bear Diner is a godsend pic.twitter.com/DL6bvhV8s0

— Cooper Cazares (@CooperCazares) October 3, 2025

We then went to Griffith Observatory, saw the Hollywood Sign, drove through traffic, walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, stopped at the Santa Monica Pier, and, of course, sat through even more traffic.

Where’s the James Franklin star? pic.twitter.com/P8wZh2ZRyp

— Cooper Cazares (@CooperCazares) October 3, 2025

While the boys and I explored LA, Sophie and her family made their way to the Rose Bowl to scope out the area.

After a long day of sightseeing, we didn’t get the chance to meet up with Sophie due to, you guessed it, traffic. Sad.

But the four of us headed to San Fernando for a nice homemade taco dinner at Oscar’s house.

Saturday

Gameday. Yikes.

Vibes were high in the morning. We left our hotel around 8:15 a.m., picked up Sophie, and made the few-minute drive over to the stadium for the 12:30 p.m. start time. All of us made our way into the stadium —oh, little did we know what would come next.

The 42-37 upset, which marked the Bruins’ first win of the season, left every Penn State fan wondering why they made the cross-country trip. I can’t even think about it.

So…that happened pic.twitter.com/0orcvFCbid

— Cooper Cazares (@CooperCazares) October 5, 2025

But, so it goes. I left with Sophie and her family, and they dropped me back off at our hotel, while the boys went to post-game press. We all said our goodbyes to Sophie as she and her family made their way to Joshua Tree for a much-needed vacation after what we had all just witnessed.

The boys and I ended what felt like the longest day ever at In-N-Out. Because, obviously.

Sunday

The 3 a.m. wake-up was definitely rough. But just like that, we were already heading back to the opposite coast.  

We got to the airport around 4:45, breezed through security, and made it to our gate. The boys went and got breakfast, and I got a coffee because apparently I didn’t want to sleep. We landed back in New Jersey around 2:45 p.m. and made the four-hour drive back to the motherland: State College. 

Well, our first “road trip” is in the books for this season. While the Nittany Lions are back at home this weekend, we have many more actual road trips to come.