Since its never too early...

...To start thinking about road trips for next year! The two on my radar were San Diego (hopefully they schedule that game in September when the SoCal weather is really nice) and Cincinnati (had a great time there this past season).

Also, for you Towson alums, the Tigers are travelling to, of all places, Northwestern on Sept. 12. I plan to be there but the one thing I want to know is...who the hell scheduled that game! I mean, did the AD at Northwestern have a dartboard with all the CAA teams and hit Towson? Then again, you'll get no complaints from me as any reason to go to Chicago is a good thing.

If you go to the Northwestern game and want to stay close to the stadium in Evanston, there is a fairly nice Best Western in downtown Evanston. If you need other info. about Evanston, let me know I worked and went to NU.

Chicago is no problem for me actually. I have a friend who lives in the city so its just the matter of getting to the stadium. I'm just curious how many people will be there repping the Tigers.

San Diego is great but I can go to Cincinnati any year. We're really eyeing the Green Bay game depending on when it falls in the schedule. Would love the opportunity to go up to Lambeau for a Ravens game. Not a whole lot to choose from. Doubt that many people will be dying to go to Oakland although San Fran is nice and a just a ride over the bridge. But Minnesota or New England? No thanks.

For its weather, Florida is usually on my radar. This year, San Diego is the closest we'll get to that intangible. Considering it'll likely cost $400 for a flight and 4 nights in a different time zone, we have actually considered going down to Clearwater Florida for an NFL weekend. Sure, the Ravens won't be playing in Tampa. Still, we went back there in 2006 (for Ravens/Bucs) and realized this area is great for a weekend to watch college football on Saturday and NFL on Sunday. Plus, the flight down and back won't cause you to mortgage your home.

I've got a friend in the marines that's stationed near San Diego, and he really wants to go to the game. But what is the best way to go about buying tickets to away games, without having to pay well over face-value??

You should probably be prepared to pay over the ticket price, especially since its San Diego. It just depends on who needs to get rid of their tickets. I've had luck on Ebay and StubHub. I've also checked the classifieds of their local papers. Be careful with that though. I did that when we went to Jacksonville a few years ago, but I had someone who lived down there that could handle the payment and getting the tickets for me. Don't know if your buddy could handle that part of it. I know a couple local places does packages. Good Luck. We wanted to do the Packer game but I don't do away games in December. It's too close to the holidays.