Here's your obligatory disclaimer that there are literally no gimme games in the Big Ten this year (with the possible exception of Nebraska?), but...
... we HAVE to win this one. Eight of our last ten games in conference play are against teams ranked in the top 25 right now, with six of those eight being in the top 20. We have a nice path ahead of us to possibly create some distance between the other top teams and us in the conference standings:
vs. Purdue
at #19 Northwestern
vs. Maryland
at Nebraska
vs. #25 Ohio State
vs. Penn State
I mean, it sounds hyperbolic and I totally think we will win our fair share of those final ten, but I want 6-0 in that stretch. Yes, NU appears to be legitimately good, but I will be extremely disappointed if our guys don't come out fired up for that one, because obviously NU will; we are still the better team on paper. The other ranked game is vs. OSU, and it is at home - the exact type of matchup we need to win to remain a top team.
Iowa, Michigan, Rutgers and Wisconsin all have some very losable games coming up, and we need to take advantage of our comparably less difficult schedule. Use this stretch to gain some momentum, increase team confidence further and truly start to get in a groove as we head into the heart of conference play ... let it start with Purdue!