Iowa State found out its bowl destination Sunday afternoon and, well, it’s a familiar stop.

The Cyclones haven’t been to a bowl game since the 2012 season, but that year was also marked by a stop to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, the same destination this year’s team will face.

But this time around, there’s another wrinkle to the bowl game; Iowa State’s opponent, the Memphis Tigers, are located in the same city as the bowl game and will certainly have a hometown advantage. The Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium also happens to be the Tigers’ home field.

“What’s more suiting for this to be my last game than [to play a road game?]” said senior wide receiver Allen Lazard. “Like Jake [Campos] said, we’ve played well on the road. With Cyclone Nation behind us I don’t think it will be too much of an advantage for them.”

As Lazard and his fellow senior teammate Jake Campos pointed out, Iowa State has fared pretty well on the road this season. The Cyclones played six road games this season, finishing 4-2 with wins at Akron, then-No. 3 Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Baylor.

Memphis has taken full advantage of its home field this year. The Tigers (10-2, 7-2 AAC) went 7-0 at their home stadium in 2017. That includes wins over UCLA and Navy, both of which were in the top 25 at the time Memphis beat them. The Tigers have used that momentum to get into the AP Top 25, where they currently sit at No. 20.

“I certainly have a great deal of respect for what Memphis has done consistently over the last four to five years,” said coach Matt Campbell. “With a change in coaching staff two years ago and their program not only keeping pace with what they’ve done but really upping the ante… it’s a great opportunity.”

Memphis currently sits at second place nationally in points per game with 47.7 per contest, so the offense is the driving force for the Tigers.

The biggest reason for the Tigers’ success is the passing game.

Led by senior quarterback Riley Ferguson, the Tigers air the ball out quite a bit. Ferguson has 3,971 passing yards this year and a 36-to-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Twice, he’s fired six or more touchdowns in a game and he’s had three games with at least 400 passing yards.

“What I know about them is they’ve got a great offense and they’re going to try to put up a lot of points,” Campos said. “So we’re just going to try and put up more points.

“We’ve played really well on the road this year so I think for us it’s just another game. We’ve got to go in with the same mentality as we would with an away game.”

Iowa State’s ability to keep up on offense with the Tigers will be critical.

Iowa State’s offense has kept up with some of the best in the nation, such as the 38-31 win at playoff-bound Oklahoma, but doing that consistently has been the problem.

That’s the key for Iowa State against the Tigers.

“I know they had a very good year,” Lazard said. “I kind of saw a little highlight from the game [Saturday against undefeated UCF]. For them to take UCF down to the wire, with the success that team has had, shows that they’re a great team as well and we need to be on our A-game to compete with them.”