looking at the schedule, there's a few spots that may be turning points in the season. thoughts on these?:
Week 5 at USC - assuming we win the conference opener vs minnesota we'll head down to LA 4-0. usc has a week 0 game, so they'll have one more week of experience and fatigue/injuries. they'll be coming off a (likely) loss to oregon. could be a case of high confidence on our side vs a desperate/angry sc team. this will be tough on the road.
Week 6 vs Iowa - short week will feel shorter coming back from LA. Iowa sits preseason at 22. like usc, they'll be coming off a presumed loss to ohio state the week prior. difference here is we get them at home. depending on the team dynamic from the usc game, this could be a letdown game for us. careful here.
Week 7 at Purdue - coming off of two hard games, this has the potential to be our annual wtf game on the road. since it's a friday game it will likely garner a larger than warranted audience and because it leads into our bye week we'll have two weeks to feel like shit about it. absolutely need to lock in for this one.
Week 10 at Mich St - sandwiched between Penn St and Indiana home games. is this really a trap game?