Iowa State has won seven of the last 11 meetings

Iowa State players simply turn the other cheek and smile when they hear someone say that the Cyclones take the Cy-Hawk rivalry far more seriously than the Hawkeyes.

Doesn't that bug you, Nate Frere?

“No, because it's Iowa fans who say that,” said ISU's senior nose guard.

After a 15-year drought that spanned most of the 1980s and ‘90s, Iowa State has won seven of the last 11 meetings in the series. The victories have been a source of pride for Cyclone Nation in recent years, particularly the one 11 years ago today when the losing streak finally ended and the rivalry was truly reborn with a 27-9 Cyclone win. “It was a fabulous day,” said Paul Rhoads, a Cyclone assistant at the time who today will get his first taste of the match-up as a head coach. “It ended a lot of years of frustration for Iowa State fans everywhere.”

True, there are probably players on Iowa State's roster who wanted to go to Iowa and hold a grudge because they were not recruited.

There may be some who feel slighted or think ISU doesn't get the same respect as their major college rival.

But put more value on an out-of-conference game in September than any of those in the Big 12?

“I don't think so,” Frere said. “You have to get up the same for every game you play. We are not going to get really up for Iowa and not for Kansas or Kansas State or Nebraska.”

So did the Hawkeyes get caught looking ahead last week in narrowly defeating Northern Iowa, with two game-winning field goal tries blocked in the final 7 seconds?

Either way, ISU players aren't going to underestimate what promises to be a fired-up crew wearing black and gold.

“It's the first game,” said quarterback Austen Arnaud. “We are not taking them lightly at all. We know UNI is tough. They came in here two years ago and beat us.”

Iowa, No. 22 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, fell out of the rankings this week and has taken a beating from many who believe the team isn't as good as previously thought.

ISU isn't going to sleep on them, that's for sure.

“From week one to week two is when you show the most improvement,” Frere said. “We expect the Hawkeyes to come in here and be on their game.”

This will be Rhoads' sixth game in the series. The coach, who was born in nearby Nevada and grew up in Ankeny, doesn't feel the same negativity that marked some of the other rivalries he's been a part of during his career. Fans of each school give one another a hard time, but most of it is good-natured.

“It shows the spirit of the state,” Rhoads said. “People enjoy the game, they know there is going to be a winner and a loser and they move on after that ... The folks of Pittsburgh-West Virginia and Auburn-Alabama don't like each other and are not afraid to show it.

“You are going to see people out in this parking lot eating chicken wings together.”

And the players fighting inside the lines to provide their fans a year's worth of bragging rights aren't going to let the outcome define their season.

“One game cannot make a season,” said ISU safety Michael O'Connell. “We've got to approach this game with the mindset that it's (like) any other game.”