OXNARD, Calif. — When Georgia Southern takes the field in California for two games to open the 2025 season, most fans will be locked in on the action. What they won't see is the small miracle of logistics happening in the background, a nine-day operation that requires a caravan of buses, trucks and staff working around the clock to turn hotel ballrooms and borrowed practice fields into a temporary version of Statesboro west, some 2,400 miles away. Preparations didn't start this past offseason; Chief of Staff Matt Hassan has been binder deep spending hundreds of hours tackling every piece of the trip since 2022.

The work began days before the team boarded a plane. A charter bus wrapped in Georgia Southern branding left a week before the Fresno State game, making stops in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona before arriving on-site the day before the team. A fully loaded equipment truck pulled out of Allen E. Paulson Stadium on Tuesday, packed floor to ceiling with everything a college football program needs to function. Basics were included, of course, but also crammed in like a Tetris board were headsets, practice equipment, laundry detergent, boxes of athletic tape, medical supplies (including 1,400 rolls of taping supplies, over 750 gallons of Powerade and six mobile athletic training room sites), film projectors, screens, copier paper and even the small details — like the portable speakers used at practice and a play clock from Beautiful Eagle Creek.

"If the players and staff are used to having it in Statesboro, chances are we brought it to California," one staff member joked.

An advance team led by Director of Operations Alexis Villarreal arrived the day before the Fresno State game to make sure the hotel was set up, then left right after the game to reach Oxnard at 3:30 a.m. to prepare the property for the 200-person party's arrival Sunday afternoon and then again to Los Angeles Thursday to get ready for Friday's team arrival.

Because Georgia Southern is staying the week in Oxnard before playing USC, this isn't a typical fly-in, play and fly-home trip. The Eagles are essentially building a home base on the road. A hotel ballroom is transformed into a team meeting room, with projectors, whiteboards and rows of chairs aligned just like the film room back home. Another section becomes the operations hub, where staff run schedules, coordinate transportation and handle the endless details that keep the week moving. Each position group has a conference room for game planning, film watching and evaluations. Thanks to Jacob King and his video staff, this felt just like being in the Ted Smith Family Football Center at home.

But while the California setting might sound like a vacation or a bowl trip, this is very much a business trip. There won't be any outings to the bowling alley or go-kart track. The schedule is built around football and academics, with staff closely monitoring NCAA time-management rules governing practice, film study and meetings.

Monday and Wednesday were lift days. With no weight room on-site at the hotel, buses transported groups to nearby Ventura College, allowing players to stay on their game-week routine with Coach James Heiss. Classes are in session, so two full-time academic staff members traveled with the team to ensure coursework wasn't neglected. Media obligations also came along — backdrops, cameras, lights and other gear were packed onto the truck.

Then there's practice. The team needs a regulation field, lined and ready, with a locker room for Andy Harris and his crew and training room for Nick Sparacio and his staff nearby.

Before the USC game was even publicly announced, planning had begun to see if it was possible to pair it with the already scheduled Fresno State game so the team could stay in California instead of making two cross-country trips. An episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks" provided the missing piece. Hassan, while watching the Dallas Cowboys season, stumbled upon an episode detailing their training camp in Oxnard. After some research, he determined it was the perfect place to set up shop and booked the property in 2023.

Fortunately for Georgia Southern, Oxnard is where the Cowboys train. Two full-length practice fields with goal posts are a short walk from some of the hotel rooms. A tennis court covered by a tent serves as a locker room. A hotel room has been converted into an athletic training room. Once the Eagles hit the grass, it feels like working out in Statesboro — minus the gnats.

Food may be the biggest hidden challenge. A football team can chew through more than 5,000 calories per player per day during game week, which means Director of Football Nutrition Kaitlyn Michener and Hassan had to coordinate with hotel chefs and local caterers to keep meals on schedule and up to team standards. Breakfast buffets are stocked with eggs, oatmeal and fruit. Lunches and dinners rotate between lean proteins, pasta and vegetables, with the occasional comfort food to boost morale. Hydration is tracked constantly, and even snacks — granola bars, trail mix, sports drinks — are part of the plan. Hundreds of water jugs were distributed by numerous different areas of the travel party to keep players hydrated in the California heat.

And don't forget laundry. Jerseys, practice gear, workout clothes, towels — everything needs to be washed, dried, folded and ready for the next session. Assistant Athletics Director for Equipment Operations Andy Harris and his staff spend hours each night ensuring practice gear looks crisp and clean, while also preparing uniforms for game day.

From the outside, it may appear that Georgia Southern is merely playing two football games in California. In reality, it's a traveling city of more than 80 players, coaches, trainers, staff and administration, each with a role in recreating a Division I football operation from scratch. Numerous unheralded heroes from numerous different areas helped make this trip flawless. By the time the Eagles take the field at the Coliseum against USC on Saturday, an army of unseen hands will have already pulled off one of the most complex logistical feats in program history.

"The goal," as one operations staffer put it, "is to make it feel like they never left Statesboro."

For fans back home, it's just football. For the staff making it happen, it's part football, part moving company and part military operation — all designed to give the Eagles their best chance to win, no matter how far from Statesboro they may be.

And after nine days in California, the Eagles return home on an early Sunday morning to prepare for their home opener against Jacksonville State on Sept. 13 … and get to sleep in their own beds.