Iowa State gets Yankees' locker room; who gets Derek Jeter's locker?

NEW YORK - Iowa State will wear its home uniform in Friday's Pinstripe Bowl against Rutgers at Yankee Stadium. The Cyclones will dress in the home locker room, which already has generated a few interesting discussions among the players.

"I already called (Mariano) Rivera's locker," said Iowa State running back Jeff Woody about the Yankees closer. "I'm a Twins fan so I'm kind of obligated to not like the Yankees, but I have the utmost respect for guys like Rivera, (Derek) Jeter, (Mark) Teixeira. Those guys are the consummate professionals, and Rivera's the greatest closer that's ever lived. I understand Trevor Hoffman, but I've got to say Rivera."

When asked if he wanted the closer's locker because he closed out the win against then-No. 2 Oklahoma State, Woody laughed and said, "No, thanks for putting it that way, though. I'm a big baseball fan and I just love the way he throws one pitch, maybe two, and it works every time."

Linebacker Jake Knott said he was looking forward to Thursday's team picture at Yankee Stadium to get the "wow factor" out of the way. Coach Paul Rhoads also was glad his players could move past the thrill of playing at Yankee Stadium before Friday's game.

"There's certainly going to be a wow factor to that," Rhoads said. "But we've played in some pretty neat stadiums ourselves. They'll have cameras going and videos going and get all that done, and by Friday they'll be ready to play a football game."

When asked if he's assigned anyone specifically to Jeter's locker, Rhoads said, "I'll put that pressure on (director of equipment operations) Jon Sedgewick, who decides who gets his locker.

"All I need's a nail on the wall if they let me do that."