IOWA CITY — Fiberglass Herkys on every corner. Bright yellow anti-Iowa State signs in every storefront. “Beat State” T-shirts selling fast at downtown stores.

The University of Iowa and Iowa City are indeed rallying the troops for Saturday’s intrastate football clash — the Iowa Alumni Association’s “Beat Iowa State Week” attests to that — but the overwhelming view of the game in Ames’ counterpart city is not one of hostility, but of camaraderie.

Matt Newport, an Iowa freshman from Bettendorf, for example, expects to spend much of his first live rivalry game among friends — from Iowa State.

“It’s going to be great,” Newport said between bites of pizza at the Iowa Memorial Union on Wednesday. “I’ve got ISU friends coming down just for the game — like five or six of them.”

Such interschool friendships are not unusual, however.

As an Ames native and one-time ISU student, Iowa senior Nathan Jobe also has friends coming from Ames for the game. For him, the much-publicized vitriol between the schools amounts only to joking words and friendly wagers.

“Me and a couple friends have some bets going,” he said, noting he even “gave them a couple points” to ease the Hawkeyes’ double-digit spread over the Cyclones.

That friendliness — or at least lack of outright contempt — seems to often come from ties far deeper than a few years on campus in Ames or Iowa City.

For Daniel Frohardt, ISU sophomore in construction engineering, the weekend in Iowa City is less a chance to rage against the Hawkeyes as it is a chance to catch up with old friends who, since growing up together in Sac City, have dispersed across the state.

“There will be a whole bunch of people, a whole bunch of friends from my hometown staying with one of my buddies at his house,” Frohardt said. “They’re a mix all from different schools — Central, Simpson, UNI, ISU and Iowa.”

For this diverse group, the rivalry on TV isn’t nearly as important as the friendships in the living room, he said.

“We just give each other a hard time about it, you know, but it’s nothing too big. We don’t get too carried away, because we’re just there to have a good time and meet everybody and hang out,” he said.

Even law enforcement is getting in on the friendly relations, as six ISU Police officers will assist Iowa Police in manning the Kinnick Stadium gates and patrolling the crowds.

This is necessary because the game is expected to draw 10,000 more people than a typical home game, spreading thin an already-maxed-out Iowa Police force, said Duane Papke, associate director of public safety at Iowa.

“Because of all the extra people in town — some even without tickets — we needed help,” Papke said. “This is one way to beef up our numbers.”

But there’s more than necessity in the collaboration, which is in its third year.

Though the departments often work together on the administrative level — sharing common issues in university law enforcement — they have few chances to work together in the field, said ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger.

Further, the road trip helps to raise visibility for the department, even away from home, Deisinger said.

“It’s another opportunity to interact with Iowa State fans,” he said.

Possibly muffling the good vibrations between schools is the “Beat Iowa State Week” campaign, which has plastered Iowa City and Iowa students alike with anti-Cyclone posters, buttons, T-shirts and foam hands.

“We had a rally at Hubbard Park Tuesday and gave out 1,000 gift bags with stickers, face tattoos, car window signs and suckers that said, ‘Don’t be a sucker — cheer for the Hawks,'” said Jennifer Powers, vice president of operations for Students Today Alumni Tomorrow Ambassadors, the alumni group sponsoring the week.

But in spite of this mountain of Iowa propaganda and offensive hard candy, Powers insisted the event is a positive one.

“In years past, it tended to take a negative turn,” she said. “We’ve tried to maintain a positive attitude. We can’t ignore the rivalry, so we try to make it as positive as we can.”