Football reporters Danny Payne and Charlie Green list four things Iowa must do in order to beat Indiana.

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BLOOMINGTON, Indiana — Hello from Memorial Stadium. It’s an absolutely perfect day for football here, and we’re lucky enough to see it. The Hawkeyes and Hoosiers are set to kick off in roughly 75 minutes. Here are our Saturday exams.

Set the tone early

Indiana is a team that can put up points in a hurry. In games it has won this season, the Hoosiers have put up 38.3 points per game. Iowa, however, is allowing only 15.3 points per game. Something has to give there, and Iowa getting an advantage early is pivotal to its success.

Grade: A+. A 65-yard touchdown run on the game’s second play gave Iowa control of the game early, and Indiana never led.

Force Indiana out of its comfort zone

Like we just noted, Indiana is a team that likes to play in shootouts. If Iowa is able to keep this game low-scoring, that’s a huge advantage for an Iowa offense playing a bad Indiana defense that gives up 37.3 yards per contest. Simply put, if the defense shows up, slows the Hoosier offense down, Indiana will be forced to make plays on defense, which gives Iowa an enormous advantage.

Grade: B. Indiana probably had to pass more than it would have liked, and its defense only had a few good stretches.

Get off the field on third down

The Hawkeyes need to get Indiana’s offense off the field on third down. If not, the Hoosier duo of Nate Sudfeld and Jordan Howard could put up a lot of yards on Saturday and wear Iowa’s defense down late.

Grade: B+. Indiana went 8-of-17 on third downs on the night. A sack of Nate Sudfeld on a third down in the fourth quarter led to a touchdown drive that all but put the game out of reach.

Win field position

Iowa’s special teams units will be key in this one. Pinning the Hoosiers deep will help keep them off the board, and having solid starting field position could help make up for a struggling Hawkeye passing game.

Grade: C. It took a couple of long drives for Iowa to keep balance in the field-position battle. Dillon Kidd and Marshall Koehn both had ugly looking punts tonight, setting the Hoosiers up in ideal positions offensively.