Kirk Ferentz isn’t a big fan of Jack Trice Stadium — and rightfully so.

The Iowa head coach might not have nightmares of coaching there. But since the Bill Belichick disciple took over the program in December 1998, the 55,000-seat area located in Story County has been anything but a good luck charm. Iowa hasn’t won in Ames since 2003.

The 11-year headman has a chance to reverse that on Saturday, when the Hawkeyes face archrival Iowa State at 11:05 a.m.

“It wasn’t overwhelming in terms of sound and all that stuff,” Ferentz said about playing in Jack Trice Stadium. “But when we show up there, I know it’s a tough stadium to play in. It’s every bit as tough as going anywhere else in our conference or the toughest places in our conference.”

But his players understand the connotations that accompany the Iowa/Iowa State rivalry, one that’s not only divided the state since 1977 but households as well.

“This game means a lot to a lot of different people, not just us and not just the coaches,” senior linebacker Pat Angerer said. “It’s a big game for the state of Iowa, and we just have to go out there ready to fight, be ready for a war.”

Seizing the traveling Cy-Hawk trophy certainly has been a battle for both the Hawkeyes and Cyclones over the last decade.

Since 1999, five games have been decided by either a touchdown or a field goal, while three others have needed both offensive feats to procure the title of best BCS squad in Iowa.

Only two intrastate clashes ended in a 20-plus-point blowout: a 40-21 Iowa win in 2003 and a 23-3 Iowa State home triumph two years later.

But even before the turn of the century, close contests weren’t uncommon between Iowa and Iowa State.

During the Hawkeyes’ 15-year winning streak under Hayden Fry, four meetings were decided by 10 points or fewer, with the Cyclones’ only win against the legendary coach coming during Fry’s final season at Iowa, 1998.

Iowa leads the overall series 37-20 since its inception in 1894 and regular face-offs beginning in the 1970s.

“There have only been a handful of times that the game has been a couple of touchdowns apart,” said senior defensive back Joe Conklin, who transferred to Iowa from Iowa State as a walk-on in 2007. “Everyone knows that this is just going to be a really big game. Really, I don’t need to say much about that.”

After Iowa’s far-from-pretty 17-16 win over Northern Iowa on Sept. 5, though, Conklin and the Hawkeyes don’t need say anything to get them ready for a Cyclones squad looking to climb out of the cobwebby Big 12 crypt with former Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads now at the helm.

The proof came last weekend. Needing to block two last-second Panther field goals, the one-point victory ultimately left Iowa looking inept in the court of public opinion, causing the Hawkeyes to fall from the AP Top-25 poll after starting the season at No. 22.

Redshirt freshman running back Adam Robinson said his eyelids were forced open by the shoddy performance, even after posting a touchdown and 63 yards rushing on 15 carries against UNI.

And as a Des Moines native who grew up 35 miles from the borders of Cyclone country, he knows his out-of-state teammates will need ample focus if Iowa is to bring the Cy-Hawk trophy back for the first time since 2004.

“If anything, what we take away from that game is we’re going to have a lot of close games down the road,” Robinson said. “Now, we kind of have an idea of what we need to do when it’s that close of a game.”