MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It wasn’t until Thursday night when the Cyclone Nation flooded the streets of Memphis. 

The ISU football team arrived on the Monday prior (Dec. 24), giving it some time without distractions in preparation for the Liberty Bowl.

“We were about three days with really no distractions from a fan base stand point,” Rhoads said. “We got to enjoy [Saturday] night and went out for dinner and made a stroll down [Beale Street] and Cyclone Nation had definitely showed up in the city of Memphis.”

Rhoads said Cyclone fans were making the city of Memphis aware they were here, and if it thought that was all of the Cyclone fans there were going to be, it had another thing coming. 

With the Liberty Bowl right around the corner, fan activities were in full swing. One of the biggest events fans saw was the pep rally on Sunday afternoon.

Rhoads remembered back to the Insight Bowl in 2000, when he was a defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, and seeing cardinal and gold everywhere in Tempe, Ariz., when his team got off the bus. With an expected fan base of 25,000 Cyclones, Rhoads said it means a lot to his team.

“It was intimidating,” Rhoads said, thinking back to the day of the Insight Bowl in 2000. “There was cardinal and gold everywhere in the city of Phoenix. The crowd had an effect on that game. We’re hoping the same thing is true [this year].”