No. 4 Iowa’s contest with No. 5 Michigan State Saturday to decide the Big Ten Championship is, of course, the biggest game the Hawkeyes have played to this point in 2015.

Part of that is because it’s for a trip to the College Football Playoff, and part of it is because of the opponent.

From top to bottom, Sparty is the best team the Hawkeyes have faced this season — it’s impossible to deny. However, the Spartans are beatable. What would give the Hawkeyes the best chance to do it? Our three keys are below.

Get to Connor Cook

Iowa hasn’t had to face a great (even good, maybe?) quarterback like Cook all season. Nate Sudfeld and Wes Lunt come to mind, but neither of those guys are blowing the door off the barn with their performance as Cook has on a weekly basis.

When healthy, he’s one of two or three elite quarterbacks in the conference; when he’s not, he’s still a great player. His injured shoulder is a point of concern, but Cook should be close to full speed Saturday.

Couple that with Iowa has given up a third of its total passing yards over the course of the last three games, and this should be an advantage for Michigan State. Iowa leads the wBig Ten with 17 interceptions, but the last four of those were gift wrapped from Nebraska’s Tommy Armstrong Jr. Put simply, Iowa wasn’t able to create interceptions at the end of the year.

Any team is at its best when it can put pressure on an opposing quarterback, and given the vulnerability of the Hawkeye passing defense recently, making Cook uncomfortable early and often gives Iowa its best shot to win this game.

“[Cook] throws some accurate balls,” linebacker Cole Fisher said. “That’s going to be tough, definitely not like we faced last week, but, yeah, he’s a really good player.”

Establish the run

The difference between a Hawkeye offense with a ground game and a Hawkeye offense without a ground game is incredible. Although he’s clutch as can be and a great playmaker, quarterback C.J. Beathard hasn’t shown an ability to win games on his own.

When a combination of running backs LeShun Daniels Jr., Jordan Canzeri, Akrum Wadley, and Derrick Mitchell Jr. are clicking, the Hawkeyes are a hard team to stop. Their success means Beathard can go to his bread-and-butter — play action passes and bootlegs — to give his offense a different dimension.

“It’s kind of been ebb and flow a little bit,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Jordan closed out the game two weeks ago, and LeShun closed it out the week before that, so we’re comfortable with both guys.

“They both have a different style. They both complement each other really well. It’s probably safe to say you’ll see both of them playing. My guess is we’ll need everybody on Saturday.”

Score first

Iowa has scored first in 11 of its 12 wins, the outlier being a win at Wisconsin to open league play.

The team is much different heading into its 13th game of the year from what it was in its fifth, so no one really knows how Iowa would fare playing catch up. It likely doesn’t want to find out Saturday.

Getting an early score to put the pressure on the Spartans is the best way to go about things. It’s a formula that has won Iowa 12 games, and there isn’t a reason to stop now.