I expect 3 wins in conference. Purdue, and two others. Illinois and Nebraska feel like the most likely candidates. I hope we can get to five - the three wins above, plus either Northwestern OR Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Crappy part about our schedule is that we don't get that bye until after Nebraska - given it's looking like our third-most-winnable game it would be great to have a chance to heal before it. Alas, not in the cards, and I worry that our injuries will really hold us down during this opening stretch of games before the bye (Northwestern-Purdue-Nebraska) and we'll go 1-2 instead of 2-1 or even (gasp) 3-0.
However, since before the season, I have held this year to one standard only - beat Wisconsin. Do that, and the season is a success in my mind. Lose, and it's a failure. It has been that long and that difficult. Yes, I realize that we could go 10-2 (7-1) and I would still consider it a failure, or that we could go 4-8 (1-7) and I'd consider it a success. Just beat the GD bagders [sic]