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IOWA CITY – There’s no place like home.

Kirk Ferentz isn’t so sure.

Oh, the Iowa football coach loves playing at home in Kinnick Stadium. He’s looking forward to Saturday’s 11 a.m. battle with Indiana in Iowa City.

But the hoopla surrounding his undefeated team, which is up to fourth in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings, can be a bit distracting at times and it’s more intense at home.

There are more fans around, more friends, more family, more questions about who the Hawkeyes might play in the BCS championship game. More potential for big heads and more chance that the game at hand won’t receive the proper focus.

“It’s easy to find us now,’’ Ferentz said. “We just have to be proactive and try to keep everybody filtered a little bit and just be smart about what we do and don’t do.’’

Offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga said he thinks he and his teammates have done a good job of blocking out distractions, but he admitted there were more people than ever patting them on the back Monday when they returned to class after a dramatic conquest of Michigan State.

“We heard a lot of people congratulating us on what we did,’’ he said. “But I think they forget about it and move on to the next game, just like we have to.’’

The Hawkeyes (8-0 overall, 4-0 Big Ten) have played noticeably better away from Kinnick this season. Despite playing more challenging opponents on the road, they have won by an average of 13.8 points per game while their four home wins have come by 16 total points.

“Coach has put a real emphasis on that,’’ defensive end Broderick Binns said. “He said we’ve got to win the road games just like we’ve got to win the home games.’’

The Hawkeyes will play three of their last four at home. And Ferentz expects the scrutiny to intensify.

“If we continue to win, I can tell from you experience, it creates more chaos,’’ he said. “We went through that in 2002. That’s the downside of winning, but if that’s the downside we’ll hopefully have to deal with it.’’