Saturday’s game against Oklahoma will mean a little more to some members of the ISU football team, even if they won’t admit it.

Cyclone coach Gene Chizik has a history with the Sooners, and ISU receiver Marquis Hamilton is from Oklahoma City.

Chizik squared off with Oklahoma twice in the Red River Shootout while he was the defensive coordinator for Texas. The Longhorns won both of those battles, but Chizik was bested by the Sooners in 2004 while at Auburn.

He and the Tigers went 12-0 in the regular season and won the SEC Championship, but were passed over by Oklahoma for the right to battle USC for the national title. Auburn would then go on to defeat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.

Chizik said, however, that he’s treating this game the same as the first seven games of the season, regardless of his history.

“We’re going to prepare like we always prepare,” Chizik said. “In practice we’re always getting after it.”

Chizik said he won’t have any problem adjusting from the Red River Shootout rivalry mentality he’s had for Oklahoma the past two seasons either.

“Even when you’re at Texas and you play Oklahoma right now, you don’t practice any different,” Chizik said. “You practice the way you practice. Obviously there’s an urgency and everyone knows you’re in a rivalry game. Just like when we played Iowa I thought there was urgency and we didn’t have to even say anything in practice about it.”

What may be a problem, however, is figuring out how to attack his former arch enemy.

“They don’t have a lot of weaknesses,” Chizik said. “Do you want your eyes poked out or your nose cut off? Which one do you want?

“We have to do the things that we think are what we do the best we can do it. That’s the only thing that’s going to give us a chance.”

Hamilton echoed his coach’s sentiments and said while it would be a great victory, he isn’t going to treat the game any differently.

“It would mean a lot [to beat Oklahoma],” Hamilton said. “Oklahoma is one of the nationally ranked teams, one of the better teams that we play.

“It’s just like any other game, except I know some of the guys on the team.”

Hamilton, a redshirt sophomore from Oklahoma City, was an 6A-West All-State all-star selection by the Oklahoma Football Coaches Association for Edmond North his senior year.

Hamilton said he wasn’t offered a scholarship by the Sooners, but may have had the opportunity to walk-on to the team had he not chosen to play for Iowa State.

Now, thanks to his high school playing days in Oklahoma, not only does Hamilton know some of the guys on the team, he knows most of their starters, especially on the defense he will be lining up against.

“I know [defensive back] Reggie Smith [linebacker] Curtis Lofton, [defensive back] D.J. Wolfe,” Hamilton said. “I know a lot of their starters. I’ll talk to them as the week goes on.”

Hamilton will need to use his knowledge of the Sooners’ defense to attempt to break the Cyclones’ offensive struggles against the stout Oklahoma defense.

Lofton leads the Sooners with 84 tackles through seven games, Smith is third on the team with 44 tackles, and Wolfe leads the team with three interceptions.