LB Mason Cobb: It appears unlikely that USC will have linebacker Eric Gentry, who missed the Minnesota game as well. Gentry was the most impactful playmaker for the Trojans defense, and USC needs someone to step up and make more plays in his absence. Cobb can’t produce those sorts of plays in the same way, but he’s capable of making some.

The number is real and difficult to ignore but also not an absolute bellwether. Two of those losses belong to struggling UCLA, home and away, and two belong to USC in the Midwest, whose coach Lincoln Riley believes his team is but a few plays from being unbeaten.

It’s not your granddaddy’s Big Ten anymore and this week’s conference lineup is the people’s exhibit A. Minnesota heads to UCLA, Ohio State is at Oregon, and Penn State heads to USC. Three games that hardly feel like Big Ten conference play.