Todd Blythe was born in Ames and grew up in Iowa, but it wasn’t until his redshirt year that he understood the true intensity of the Cy-Hawk rivalry.

“You think you know what it’s about if you’re not on the team, but once you’re on the team and you’re on the inside on either one of the teams, it’s so much different. It’s elevated a thousand times,” Blythe said.

Blythe, the 6-foot-5 big-play wide receiver from Indianola, is gearing up for the last instate rivalry game of his ISU career.

Blythe has 13 catches for 225 yards in three games against Iowa. In his freshman debut versus the Hawkeyes in 2004, his 40-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter put the Iowa State in position to tie the game.

The Cyclones lost, 17-10, but were almost four-touchdown underdogs going into the game.

After an 0-2 start this season, Blythe said he sees the underdog role the Cyclones are cast into on Saturday as an advantage.

“There is not going to be a whole lot of people outside our locker room that expect us to do much in this game, and that’s fine with us,” Blythe said. “I mean, obviously it’s never been a thing where we’ve been too worried about anybody outside of our locker room and outside our football family, and that’s fine. We’ve talked and the only guys that we’re concerned about are the guys that are putting on our jerseys and helmet on Monday.”

Blythe’s only trips to two Iowa State/Iowa games in high school came on recruiting visits – one to Ames, one to Iowa City.

But watching the Iowa game has been a tradition.

“Every year, you watch the game,” Blythe said. “Throughout the state, that’s always the big game that everyone talks about and everyone knows. And whether it was a time going through the stretch where Iowa was beating up on Iowa State, or going through the stretch Iowa State won whatever in a row and was getting after Iowa, it was always a great rivalry to watch.”

Blythe said the rivalry comes down to players making clutch plays.

“You look back and remember at the game in Iowa City, Seneca [Wallace] rolling to his left and throwing back across his body for a big first down to Jack Whitver. I mean, I remember plays like that . big-time players were stepping up in key situations.”

Blythe is 1-2 against the Hawkeyes in his playing career, and said he wants to at least finish .500 against the Cyclones’ chief rivals.

He also wants the hardware.

“It’d be great to leave my senior year in possession of the Cy-Hawk Trophy,” Blythe said. “I want nothing more than to be able to get that thing from their sideline and carry that back into our locker room and into the Jacobson Building my senior year.”