We meet again

They text, they talk, and for the first time on Saturday, Gene Chizik and Mack Brown will coach against each other. Chizik, a former defensive coordinator for Brown’s Longhorns, will face off against his old coach when the Cyclones host Texas at 11:30 a.m.

“I think it’ll be a strange day to a certain degree,” Chizik said. “Once it kicks off, it kicks off and you’re into a football game.”

While Chizik said he’ll treat Saturday’s game as business, his relationship with Brown is anything but. Chizik, who was a defensive coordinator for Brown in 2005 and 2006, routinely talks with him and said he learned a lot from his former boss.

“He’s a great manager of people, and I think that’s why he has been so successful over the years – and it doesn’t really need to be said he’s a great coach,” he said. “He understand the Xs and Os of the game on both sides of the ball.”

He also hopes to have some of the success Brown has had. Brown, who has had 17 consecutive winning seasons, has gone to 15 straight bowl games and led the Longhorns to a national championship victory over the University of Southern California in 2005.

“I think he’s a great coach,” Chizik said. “He’s won a national championship, he’s won a conference championship, and he’s turned programs around that have never been the same since he left.”

Although Brown said he’s happy Chizik earned his first head coaching job, he added he doesn’t like competing against individuals he’s close with.

“It just adds extra stuff to it and you rather it was just about the football game,” Brown said in a press release Monday. “Which this one will be.”

As for Chizik, he’d rather meet Brown anywhere but the football field.

“I’d be even more excited to see him if it was out for coffee or something,” Chizik said. “I’m excited to see all those guys. Coach Brown knows what he means to me and my family.”

Welcome back

Coach Chizik won’t be the only familiar thing about Saturday’s game for Coach Brown. Brown was an assistant coach for the Cyclones from 1979 to 1981. He worked as a wide receiver coach and an offensive coordinator for Donnie Duncan.

“I was there three years and it was a wonderful place and it was a great experience for me,” Brown said.

Cardinal and gold

Saturday is Golden Rules day for the Cyclones. All fans attending the game are encouraged to wear gold-colored clothing to the game.

Glimpse of the future

The Cyclones may be focusing on the Longhorns on Saturday, but plenty of the future will be in the stands watching. Paul Clark, publisher of www.cyclonereport.com, said at least five recruits will be in attendance for Iowa State’s game against Texas. As of Tuesday, those coming were:

• Jarrett Ben, 5-foot-10-inch, 165-pound defensive back from Garland, Texas.
• Jared Edwards, 6-foot-3-inch, 239-pound offensive tackle from Arlington, Texas.
• Demetrius Williamson, a 5-foot-10-inch, 168-pound defensive back from Port Orange, Fla.
• Marcus Cromartie, a 6-foot, 165-pound defensive back from Arlington, Texas.
• Darius Darks, a 6-foot, 175-pound wide receiver, Pflugerville, Texas.

Clark said he expects it to take time before Chizik’s staff is acclimated to recruiting in Iowa.

“I bet it would take two or three recruiting cycles before they really understand the Iowa high school market and really understand the caliber of players that Iowa produces,” Clark said.

That guy can play

If any Cyclone knows what a good wide receiver is, it’s senior Todd Blythe. Blythe, a wide receiver from Indianola, has set school records for touchdown receptions with 29 and receiving yards with 2,736, and got a good view of another receiver, Texas Tech Red Raider Michael Crabtree. Crabtree broke the NCAA record for receiving touchdowns when he hauled in three scores against the Cyclones last Saturday.

“He’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Blythe said. “I talked to him a little bit after the game just before I went into the locker room and just told him to keep it up and keep doing what you’re doing.”

Crabtree, who has caught 70 passes for a 1,074 yards and 17 touchdowns this season, will only keep getting better, Blythe said.

“He might set all sorts of crazy records down there and put them out of reach for a lot of people I think,” he said.