Hate hate hate hate hate

IOWA CITY — Greg Mabin is a junior cornerback who only started seeing the field last season. He didn't make the trip to Ames the last time the Hawkeyes traveled to meet Iowa State in 2013.

Going into Saturday's Iowa-Iowa State matchup, his teammates clued him in.

'Everything from fans egging the bus to using choice words at us when we walked out on the sidelines and everything in-between,' the junior said.

Of course, this begged the question 'who hates Iowa more, Iowa State or Minnesota, which actually does have that 'We hate Iowa' chant?'

Mabin was quick and he pretty much knocked it out of the park with his answer.

'They'll probably fight about who hates us the most,' Mabin said.

So yes, the Hawkeyes openly acknowledged Tuesday that there is at least a little bit of a 'hate' element to the Cy-Hawk thing.

One ploy the Iowa staff has powered up this week has been playing Iowa State's fight song on volume 11 in the locker room. The reviews were what you might expect and included the word 'annoying.'

'It's pretty annoying,' senior defensive end Drew Ott said. 'It's not a very catchy fight song, in my opinion.'

'It's a little annoying, it's loud and we've been playing a lot,' quarterback C.J. Beathard said.

Wide receiver Jacob Hillyer sees the method to the madness. Still, he doesn't like it, so this might be working.

'It's a little frustrating at times, but it does prepare us for a hostile environment on Saturday,' the senior said. 'I have had to catch myself wanting to leave the locker room a little bit faster just because that fight song is blaring every day.'

This particular group of Hawkeyes haven't had a lot of success against ISU, losing three of the last four in painful fashion (triple overtime, fourth-quarter interception, last-second field goal). Hillyer watched the Cyclones (1-0) triple-OT victory from the dorms when he took his redshirt year in 2011.

'I heard it from the students here,' Hillyer said. 'They were going crazy, screaming. That's when I knew it was a big game. And the way we prepare for Iowa State, it's a big week.'

The locker room fight song maneuver is in direct contrast to what head coach Kirk Ferentz's message has been to the team. Basically, that's been, 'block out the noise, don't let anything on the outside stress you.'

'You can't listen to the outside noise,' Beathard said. 'There are a lot of people out there trying to hype this game up. We know it's a big game for us, it's a big game for them, too. We respect them and we know they're a good team.'

That said, this will be Beathard's first true road test. Last season, he started at Purdue, but the attendance was only 36,603 in Ross-Ade Stadium, which holds 47,907. Iowa threw a headlock on the Boilermakers and the game was subs and tumbleweeds late.

This will be Beathard's first start in a college stadium where the 61,000 fans will be wishing failure upon him. And 'wishing failure upon him' is the nicest possible way of putting it.

'I'm kind of excited about that, honestly. I like embracing that environment,' Beathard said. 'I think all of us are excited. I remember going in there two years ago. I didn't play, but I remember walking in and their crowd was talking stuff to you. It kind of gets you going. I'm kind of excited about that.'

Wait, what's 'stuff'?

'Just kind of trash talking,' he said with a laugh. 'Some stuff that shouldn't be said.'

Trash talk will be an element Saturday. A little bit of hate will be an element Saturday. Desire will be an element. Oh, will that be an element. Remember, Iowa plays four traveling trophy games and went 0-for-4 in those last season. 'Remember,' of course, you remember.

Mabin remembered. He didn't play in 2012, but he was front and center last season in his first year as a starter. He was on the field when the Cyclones drove to set up Cole Netten's 42-yard field goal with two seconds left.

Oh, he remembered it.

'Seeing them run over to our sideline and taking that trophy and just taking pictures with it and kissing with it, it's just not a good feeling and I don't want to experience it ever again,' he said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com