This is what Turd said about it the other day:
“I think it’s going to be wonderful for the student-athletes, but the reality is that, where we are as a program and an institution, I don’t know that you can think of a more important game. So you add all that up, in Ireland, in a unique environment, with everything that’s going on in the world, playing against a great team in Northwestern with a tremendous coach, a personal friend of mine, who’s going to be looking forward to providing a response to last year’s game here at Memorial Stadium, it’s going to be a really important game for our team with a bunch new players and new coaches."
Just reading between the lines there, knowing how important this game is to the overall direction of the season (and knowing how we shit the bed in the similar situation last year vs. Illinois), it sounds to me like they would be perfectly fine if the game wasn't in Ireland.