Iowa gets back to work this week after its bye, and the Hawkeyes (3-1, 0-1 in the Big Ten) travel to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers with another rivalry trophy on the line. It’s going to be an interesting test for the Hawkeyes, who are making their first road trip after four straight home games.

Iowa has won three straight against the Gophers, but they’ve all been close. They are a touchdown favorite again this week, and the 2:30 p.m. CT game (TV: Big Ten Network) should be another battle. Iowa has actually lost three of its past five games in Minneapolis.

Here are five things I want to see from Iowa this weekend against Minnesota:

1. Break a bad bye-week trend

During Kirk Ferentz’s two decades as the coach at Iowa, finding ugly numbers is something of a needle-in-a-haystack kind of search. He’s had great success as Iowa’s all-time winningest coach, but one crazy stat is that the Hawkeyes are just 2-8 in road games after a bye. Some of it might be coincidence and there are no obvious trends as to how those games went. In any case, it’s one good reason to maximize effort in this game and get a win.

2. Let the defense set the tone early again

Iowa’s defense has been very good all season, and they’ve been downright dominant most of the time. The starters gave up only three points through three quarters of their first three games, and they were good against Wisconsin until the end, when they gave up a game-winning score on an 10-play 88-yard drive. Iowa held Wisconsin scoreless in the first quarter two weeks ago, and another great start like that will set the tone against Minnesota.

3. Nate Stanley continues to pick it up a notch

Quarterback Nate Stanley keeps getting better and better every week, earning rave reviews that match the “most NFL ready” label that was tagged on him at the start of the season. He made some great throws against Wisconsin, rolling up 256 yards and completed 14 of 23 passes. Minnesota’s defense can get thrown against, so this is a good time for Stanley to have another big game.

4. Running backs start setting a tone for this offense

Toren Young, Ivory Kelly-Martin and Mekhi Sargent all bring different skills to the Iowa backfield, but the end result needs to be production for all three. Young leads Iowa with 268 rushing yards and a 5.5 yards-per-carry average and is a fan favorite. Kelly-Martin has missed a few games with injury and Sargent has been a nice diversion at times. They’re all healthy now, so Saturday will be a good time for them to start making a bigger impact. It was interesting to see Kelly-Martin get 14 carries and Young only six. Let’s see what happens next.

5. Win by a couple of touchdown and make a statement

Losing to Wisconsin means the Hawkeyes have an uphill battle in winning the Big Ten West, but there’s nothing wrong with finishing second and getting to a high-profile bowl game. Saturday starts the post-Wisconsin portion of the schedule, and it’s time for the Hawkeyes to show they are still a top-tier team.