Three Daily reporters are in Tempe, Ariz., where they will provide coverage leading up to and during Iowa State’s face-off with the Gophers in the Insight Bowl. Both teams will be holding their final pre-game press conference tomorrow. Stay tuned to Iowastatedaily.com for updates.

TEMPE, Ariz. — This is the week ISU football fans have been anticipating.

After a four-year bowl drought, the Cyclones are prepping to make an appearance in the 21st annual Insight Bowl played in Tempe, Ariz., where they are set to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Both teams arrived in the Phoenix area over the weekend and have been using the week to ready themselves for Thursday’s showdown. Iowa State has been holding practices at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, while the Gophers have set up camp at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale.

Practices have been starting around noon and last into the early afternoon.

Despite the new and unfamiliar setting, the Cyclones are treating the week the same way they would a week in the regular season. With the game two days away, Iowa State approached today like a Thursday, although the workload was slightly lighter.

“On Thursday, both sides of the ball are working through their script and game plan and taking the ball up and down the field,” said Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads after practice Tuesday. “Today we worked on every situation. We covered about three phases of special teams. Just really tied some loose ends up. We finished with one last development with our young kids, mostly redshirts.”

For this year’s ISUe team, the bowl experience is an entirely new venture. But the Cyclones are not letting inexperience hinder their preparation.

“Everyone talks about how we haven’t been here before,” said quarterback Austen Arnuad. “We’ve been through a routine week practice for a game. We know what we’re doing, so that is going to be a key for us to stay focused and stay locked in.”

Although game prep is at the forefront, Iowa State is still allowing time to enjoy the week.

The Cyclones are bunking at the posh Sheraton Wild Horse resort and between practices have taken time to absorb the atmosphere the Phoenix area has to offer. The week has included a number of team activities, including steak dinners and go-kart racing at the F1 Racing Factory.

Iowa State had a surprise visit Tuesday from Arizona Cardinal star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who talked and shook hands with the team. 

With all the pageantry surrounding the game, it seems easy for a team to be distracted. But running back Alexander Robinson doesn’t see the unfamiliar environment to be a problem.

“I don’t think it is really that tough. You try to enjoy [the extra activities] when you’re in that,” Robinson said. “But Coach Rhoads stresses that once you step through those doors that you have to lock in for three or four hours watching film or working on the practice field, whatever it is. You have to let everything else go. You have to lock in, so that’s what we have been trying to do.”

The showdown at Sun Devil Stadium on New Year’s Eve will be only the third meeting between Iowa State and Minnesota since 1924, although the two teams have played each other a total of 25 times (the Gophers hold a 22–2–1 advantage).

A win against Minnesota would put the Cyclones at 7-6 and solidify the team’s pre-season goal of finishing the season with a winning record. A victory would also provide a cathartic outlet to bury the memories of the Cyclones’ troubles over the last couple of years.

“Nobody is accepting the fact that we made it this far and we get to go out and ride go-karts, enjoy the warm weather and the great hospitality,”  Rhoads said. “Everybody is here to win a game and they have prepared accordingly.”