If familiarity breeds contempt then Thursday night’s matchup between Iowa State and Tulsa should feature plenty of intensity. It will be the teams third meeting in a little more than a year and last December the Golden Hurricane beat the Cyclones 31-17 in the Liberty Bowl.

ISU coach Paul Rhoads hopes quarterback Sam Richardson’s ankle has healed up enough to make him more of a factor in the running game. Richardson has only 86 yards in the first two games.

Rhoads says a concern for the Cyclone defense is the big play ability of Tulsa leading rusher and receiver Trey Watts.

At 0-2 this is a big game for the Cyclones.

Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship says these are not the same teams that played last December.

Tulsa rushed for more than 300 yards in their Liberty Bowl victory but they are averaging only 120 on the ground this season.

It is a 6:30 kickoff on Thursday night.