Last year, quarterback Bret Meyer was trying to escape Gene Chizik.

This year, the senior is looking to the Cyclones coach for advice as Meyer and his teammates prepare to face off against Chizik’s former team, the Texas Longhorns.

“Just being able to ask him and pick his brain on some of the things they’re going to do, it definitely can’t hurt,” Meyer said.

What did hurt was the defensive schemes Chizik drew up to stop Meyer. Chizik, who was the defensive coordinator for the Longhorns from 2005 to 2006, held Meyer to 274 yards passing last season while forcing two interceptions. The Texas defense sacked Meyer seven times in Iowa State’s 37-14 loss. The Cyclones were also limited to only 21 yards rushing during their trip to Austin last year.

Now, Meyer’s looking for help from the former Longhorns coach, something Chizik thinks he’ll be able to provide.

“I know the players,” Chizik said. “I know who’s capable of doing what, so I think that’s a little bit of something that we can give to our players.”

Having spent a great deal of time working with and recruiting many of the current Texas players, Chizik said there is plenty of information he’ll share with his new team, and they’ll need it.

“They’re phenomenal athletes, great athletes, got great coaches and they’ve got a great history,” he said. “They know how to win. There is a lot of things that we’re going to have to pull off for us to win Saturday.”

Information on players won’t be the only knowledge Chizik will be able to provide. Having worked closely with Longhorns coach Mack Brown, Chizik learned a lot of the coach’s tendencies that he can use against his former boss. Brown, who helped guide the Longhorns to a national championship in 2005, has kept in close contact with the new Cyclones coach via text messaging and phone calls.

“He’s a great friend of mine,” Chizik said. “When you leave, you don’t break ties with good friends, you always keep those going. He’s a great mentor of mine and I just look at him as a great friend.”

While the Cyclones spend the week studying tape of the No. 23 Longhorns, the players will listen carefully when Chizik speaks up about his former team.

“He definitely knows the personnel and he’s going to be able to tell us, hopefully, strengths and weaknesses and things like that,” said senior wide receiver Todd Blythe. “That’s something that we’re going to have to use. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to lining up in between the white lines and making plays.”

No matter what, Meyer said he’s happy to see Chizik on his side of the field now, instead of facing Chizik’s defensive pressure. After being sacked 38 times last season, Meyer has only been brought down nine times this year.

“They did a good job putting pressure on us,” Meyer said. “That’s something we’ve been able to do a lot better job of [this year].”