While goals and expectations vary widely, every team in the Big Ten faces a crucial stretch in its schedule.
It may make the difference in a program’s bid to escape the division basement, to reach bowl eligibility or contend for the College Football Playoff, but a three- or four-game, make-or-break period of the 2016 season exists for each league program.
So to help you map your fall, we’re identifying and analyzing those pivotal points this week around the conference.
Up next: Indiana.
Toughest stretch: Weeks 5 through 8 (Michigan State, at Ohio State, Nebraska, at Northwestern)
Why: So remember in 2015 when the Hoosiers lost six straight games after a 4-0 start and nearly blew their bid to reach a second bowl game in the past two decades?