College football schedule 2012: Notre Dame, Northwestern play important road games

Both No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and No. 24 Northwestern Wildcats play important road games, and the Big Ten has multiple important divisional games.

Every game should feel important to the undefeated Fighting Irish, who travel to Alumni Stadium to square off against the Boston College Eagles. Although Boston College appears overmatched, Notre Dame is unlikely to take any games as guarantees after last week's home scare against the Pittsburgh Panthers. The Irish kick off at 7 p.m. CT, and ABC will televise the game.

Northwestern faces the Legends Division rival Michigan Wolverines, who currently sit one game ahead of the Wildcats in the division standings. Picking a victory in Ann Arbor gives Northwestern a real shot at winning the Legends Division, while a loss makes a division title nearly impossible. Northwestern kicks off early, 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.

Here is the full slate of Big Ten games, as well as the Notre Dame game (al times listed are Central).

Wisconsin Badgers at Indiana Hoosiers , 11 a.m., ESPN2

No. 24 Northwestern Wildcats at Michigan Wolverines, 11 a.m., ESPN

Purdue Boilermakers at Iowa Hawkeyes. 11 a.m., BTN

Penn St. Nittany Lions at No.16 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 2:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN2

Minnesota Golden Gophers at Illinois Fighting Illini, 2:30 p.m., BTN

No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Boston College Eagles, 7 p.m., ABC