Iowa is on the verge of cracking the top-25 polls, and the 4-1 Hawkeyes probably will get there Saturday with a win at Indiana. The Hawkeyes are favored by five points, but there are reasons to be concerned about this one. The game is at Noon ET in Bloomington.

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

1. Defense returns to its dominating ways

Iowa’s defense looked like the best group in the conference early, but as injuries have mounted, that edge they had has disappeared slightly. The Hawkeyes gave up a game-winning touchdown late to Wisconsin and then gave up 31 last week at Minnesota in the 48-31 win.  Winning games like this — games they are supposed to win — means stepping up on defense and making things miserable for Indiana. Show that dominance again.

2. Ending this back-to-back road thing

We wrote about this earlier this week,  that Iowa has won back-to-back road games on consecutive weekends only once this decade. That’s in seven tries, and that’s not good. The common thread through all that was that those Iowa teams failed to play consistently two weeks in a row. That has to end Saturday, where they need to put together two good games in a row. It’s a little statistical thing, but it’d be good to put it behind them this weekend.

3. Nate Stanley keeps flinging it around

Quarterback Nate Stanley has been really good lately, passing for 879 yards and eight touchdowns during the past three games in which the Hawkeyes have averaged 38 points per game. Indiana’s defense is much improved under Tom Allen, but they are still susceptible in the passing game. Last week was a good example of that, when Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins passed for 455 yards and six touchdowns. It would sure be nice if Stanley can shred them in the same way. He’s probably going to be without tight end Noah Fant, his favorite target, but that can’t slow him down.

4. Running game kicks into a higher gear

Iowa’s running game is averaging a pathetic 3.8 yards per carry this season and they’ve had a grand total of one run longer than 20 yards all season. It needs to get it going, and this is as good a week as any to play a bigger role in the offense. It doesn’t help that starter Ivory Kelly-Martin is banged up, but there’s plenty of depth at running back and guys like Toren Young and Mehki Stewart need to pick it up.

5. Defensive line picks up the slack

There are injuries at linebacker — a lot of them — and there are two true freshmen starting in the secondary now for Iowa. So that means that guys like Parker Hesse and A.J. Espinosa need to dominate on the defensive line. This is the best position group on the team and there comes a time when they simply need to take over a game. Indiana’s offensive line is pretty good, but they aren’t great. It’s time to take over.