Peterson: Lead-up to Cy-Hawk matchup is mighty chippy... and I love it

AMES, Ia. — First it was Brian Ferentz, with the viral “The Guys in Ames” comment a couple months ago.

Now it’s Matt Campbell’s “The Team Out East.”

Game on!

I haven’t seen or heard this much interest in Cy-Hawk football in a long time — and it’s barely the midway point of our wonderful Iowa State Fair, which, speaking of...

I saw someone wearing a cardinal and gold “Beat Iowa” T-shirt last Friday or Saturday (yeah, I went both days) while partaking in Cy-Hawk football conversation at The Depot — or maybe it was up the street, at The Bud Tent.

Regardless...

"Who wins?," I was asked by someone up-to-date on his college football.

For someone who knows the difference between bubble screen and bubble wrap to even ask that question puts this 2017 game into perspective.

Iowa State has better receivers and a better quarterback. Iowa has better lines. Defensive backs? Advantage Cyclones. Linebackers? Advantage Hawkeyes.

You get the point.

And you now see why it’s essentially a toss-up game — you see why Vegas favors Iowa by about a field goal on Sept. 9 at Iowa State’s Jack Trice Stadium.

So even without Brian and Matt trolling each other, this game was shaping up to be a doozie.

Remember on May 4, when Brian Ferentz, Iowa’s offensive coordinator, was talking about recruiting and uttered the following:

“What has sped things up in our state, especially, is the guys in Ames...”

Brian, a good guy, said “guys in Ames” once more during the interview, and just this week, Campbell, who's also a good guy, got his two-cents in on a promotional video aimed at students just arriving on campus:

“Welcome back to campus,” Campbell told them while standing in front of the tunnel between locker room and stadium. “This football team, for the last six months, has been straining to get themselves better. There’s a national presence about our football program, as well as on campus, but we need you.

“We need you to make this place the most intimidating environment in college football, and there’s some unbelievable opportunities:

“The game versus UNI. The team out east...”

What’s next between now and the 40th anniversary of Cy-Hawk’s football re-start, a Steele Cage Match between the wrestling coaches, Kevin Dresser from “Those Guys in Ames,” and Tom Brands, the program’s leader of “The Team Out East?”

Bring it.

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Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of Iowa State football and basketball. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete.

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