It’s only week two and it’s one of the biggest games of the season for the Iowa State football team.

It’s rivalry week.

Iowa State will take on in-state rival Iowa for the Cy-Hawk trophy and bragging rights for an entire year. Coach Matt Campbell has three things he’s focused on this week to give his team a chance to bring that trophy back home to Ames.

A difference between week one and week two

Iowa State defeated in-state rival Northern Iowa 42-24 on Saturday night to start the season off on the right foot. Besides the fact the team won, Campbell saw a lot of growth from the Cyclones going into a hard week preparing for Iowa.

“I thought our team in a lot of ways showed great growth from last week within the football game,” Campbell said. “Now, can we understand those areas where we weren’t as successful as we wanted to be or needed to be.”

The biggest concern coming into last week was the inexperience from the front seven on the defensive side. Campbell said that group showed glimpses of dominance in the game against Northern Iowa and needs them this upcoming weekend against a strong running game from the Hawkeyes.

Third-down situations

The third down situations are an important aspect to any football game because a higher percentage in this category, a better chance that team will win the football game.

“I think any game it’s about winning the third down situations,” Campbell said. “Staying on the field on offense and getting off on defense.”

Last week, Iowa State was 7-for-15 in third-down conversions, which was better than the Cyclones’ conversions last season, 76-for-177 or 43 percent.

The third-down conversions were one of the biggest reasons Iowa State was dominated by Iowa in last season’s 42-3 loss. The Cyclones were 3-for-15, or 20 percent, on third downs, while the Hawkeyes finished the game 4-for-10, or 40 percent.

Turnovers

Campbell talks about turnovers almost every week and that’s what he tells his players to focus on day in and day out.

Iowa State had a total of eight interceptions and eight fumbles lost throughout the entire 2016 season. Last week, the Cyclones finished the game with one interception and zero fumbles lost.

Campbell was impressed on Saturday night’s postgame conference about the turnover margin and he hopes it continues to stay that consistent in the coming weeks.

The Cy-Hawk game last season had minimal turnovers with a total of one between both teams. That one turnover was an interception by Iowa State.

“I think those three core values are really important for our formula of success each week,” Campbell said.