Members of the Iowa football team met with the media Tuesday.
By Ryan Rodriguez
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Players on the Iowa football team met with members of the media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss last week’s victory over Illinois State, as well as discuss the team’s upcoming clash with Iowa State in the Cy-Hawk Series.

The Hawks are 3-3 against the Cyclones since head coach Paul Rhoads took over in 2009. Iowa’s last victory over Iowa State came in 2013, when the Hawks picked up a 27-21 win in Ames.

Beathard prepares for first taste of Cyclones

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard has had an uncommon career since joining the Hawkeyes as a freshman.

Now in his junior year, Beathard will face his team’s biggest rival for the first time as a starting college quarterback.

Needless to say, Beathard was anxious to finally write his name into the annals of the Cy-Hawks Series history books, if such a thing exists.

“I’ve never actually played in a game against them, and obviously we’re going over there [Ames], so I’m pretty excited,” Beathard said. “It’s a rivalry game, and we know their fans and crowd are going to be ready for us.”

Beathard was on the bench in the waning moments of last year’s installment of the Cy-Hawk game, a crushing defeat that saw the Cyclones win on a last-second field goal.

Now, Beathard has an opportunity to atone for his team’s sins of last September.

“You just can’t listen to the outside noise,” he said. “There are people everywhere trying to hype this game up, but we know it’s an important game and that it’s going to be tough.”

Preparing for the rivalry

While the rivalry that exists between Iowa and Iowa State has been well-illustrated for decades now, it’s no secret the Cy-Hawk game affects every player differently.

The perspective of a player who grew up outside the state is no doubt unique compared with those on both teams who have lived this rivalry practically since birth.

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“Being from Tennessee, I obviously didn’t have a real great understanding of the rivalry until I came here,” Beathard said. “But it’s obviously a huge game. There’s going to be some juice out there on both sides of the ball.”

For Mount Pleasant native Henry Krieger-Coble, the game strikes a wholly different, more traditional chord.

“Being an in-state guy, I’ve been around the rivalry my whole life,” Kreiger-Coble said. “You’re always excited for a new game. Especially because we weren’t good enough last year.”

Bring the noise

One word that every Iowa player brought up in discussion on Tuesday was “intensity.”

Loud stadiums and raucous crowds are certainly quite common in games in which the hate runs as deep as it does between the Hawks and Cyclones.

Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff have began preparing the Hawkeyes for the mental warfare that comes with playing your biggest rival in their house.

Notably, Iowa’s coaches have taken to blasting the Iowa State fight song in the Iowa locker room as motivation for the players.

“I’m tired of hearing that; I don’t even like being in the locker room anymore,” defensive back Greg Mabin said. “It’s their biggest game of the year every season, so we have to go out and take control.”

Follow @ryanarod on Twitter for news, updates, and analysis about the Iowa football team.