Iowa had to venture out on the road for the first time on Saturday, but the experienced veteran team handled their trip to Minneapolis just fine, beating Minnesota 48-31. The win raised the Hawkeyes’ record to 4-1 and earned them the Floyd of Rosedale trophy for the fourth straight year.

Iowa’s offense, which has struggled early in games at times in September, kicked off a new month in style, rolling up a season high in points and also scoring four touchdowns in the first half. Nate Stanley was great at quarterback, as well.

Here’s what I liked — and didn’t like — about Iowa’s win over the Gophers:

What I liked

Clean sweep for seniors in another rivalry game

Must like winning a fourth straight time against in-state rival Iowa State earlier this year, it’s a great feeling for the seniors to win them all against a rival.  “As a senior, that’s something we’re extremely proud of. There’s a lot of guys saying that in there,” Iowa defensive end Parker Hesse said in the locker room after the game. They can do  the same with Nebraska later, too. “I definitely get a little juice out of winning a trophy game, because that trophy gets to stay in your building the whole year, and nobody can say anything about it,” wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette said.

Nate Stanley keeps getting better every game

Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley had a big day, throwing for 314 yards and four touchdown passes. What was especially nice was the fast start, because memories of the early ugliness against Northern Illinois and Iowa State are still fresh. He’s a veteran leader that has total respect throughout the locker room, and now it’s starting to show on the field. “He puts us in situations out there where we can make plays,” Easley said. “He does things the right way, every day. Just someone everybody looks up to.”

Winning on the road after a bye really is a big thing

Kirk Ferentz’s record in road games after a bye was just 2-8 prior to Saturday. That’s downright ugly. Part of that is coincidence in scheduling, but in this case it was critically important to go on the road and get a win after that first conference loss to Wisconsin. Iowa has a huge scheduling advantage over Wisconsin going forward, so the Big Ten West is still up for grabs, even though the Badgers have the early edge. A second conference loss would have been devastating, so firing out early and rolling to a win was a big deal.

What I didn’t like

Giving up 31 points never looks good

This Iowa defense has been really good all season, so it was kind of surprising to see Minnesota score 31 points on Saturday. The Gophers never got within a touchdown in the second half, but they kept hanging around, keeping the pressure on the Iowa offense to keep scoring. Toss this in with the fourth-quarter collapse by the defense against Wisconsin and now we have a few reasons to be concerned. Not in panic mode, certainly, but concern mode for sure. Forcing four turnovers was nice, though, and that would be a good trend to continue.

Running game still isn’t clicking

The Hawkeyes gained only 106 yards on 40 carries for a meager 2.7-yard average. That’s just not going to cut it going forward, and they can’t have Stanley bailing them out every game. Ivory Kelly-Martin, the team’s leading carrier, had just 47 yards on 20 carries. Part of this is on the offensive line, of course, but it will surely be a point of emphasis this week as the Hawkeyes prepare for a road trip to Indiana on Saturday.