When the Cyclones take the mat Sunday at Hilton Coliseum for the annual in-state rivalry with Iowa, it’ll be a new environment for most of the team.

No. 23 Iowa State (0-5, 0-2 Big 12) will send five freshmen to the mat against the No. 1 Hawkeyes (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten), meaning half the lineup will take part in the rivalry for the first time.

“I’m excited about this young team,” said ISU coach Kevin Jackson. “I’m excited about seeing them in this type of environment under this type of pressure, because that’s what it is. That’s what we try to create in Hilton when we do host this event.”

Jackson said he expects Iowa coach Tom Brands to start the dual at 125 pounds, meaning the first five matches will be wrestled by ISU freshmen.

“It’s going to be a challenge for those first five guys for sure,” Jackson said. “It will be the first time they will wrestle in an Iowa-Iowa State match.”

Redshirt freshman Ryak Finch will start that string, facing off against No. 1 Matt McDonough, who won a national title as a freshman and placed runner-up last season as a sophomore.

Finch currently finds himself in a stretch in which he faces highly ranked opponents in four consecutive duals. For him it’s a challenge, but one he expected when he decided to wrestle at Iowa State.

“You definitely have to approach it with urgency,” Finch said. “But that’s why I came to Iowa State — to have runs like this.”

While the rivalry with the Hawkeyes — which is in its 78th year — is big in the state, senior Andrew Sorenson said the team tries to treat it like any other dual.

“You can’t hype it up too much,” Sorenson said. “You have to do the same training and the same stuff you do every other week.”

But even while trying to block it out, the prospect of wrestling in front of a packed crowd at Hilton is exciting.

“The greatest part about this dual is there are going to be 14,000 fans in the stands,” Sorenson said. “I’m always excited to get up in front of a big crowd — it always fuels you.”

That big crowd will be a new experience for half the Cyclones’ lineup, but Jackson is trying to make sure his young team is ready.

“Either you get prepared for it and you get mentally set for it and visualize it, or you get rolled over in it,” Jackson said. “No one wants to be embarrassed, no one wants to get rolled over in it, so I continue to tell them that.”