Hello new students. Welcome to Iowa State, home of the Cyclones.

This may seem like another introductory article you have read, but it is not. This article is about what all those campus tours and welcome articles do not tell you.

Indeed, it is the down and dirty key to tailgating for freshmen.

For many freshmen, the idea of tailgating is exciting and new. Some may have before with family or friends, some have no experience whatsoever, either way, this will be your first time as a college student to tailgate in the student lot and be part of the ISU community.

So what are some things to remember? Well, for starters, know where the student lot is.

For those who do not know where the student lot is, it is located southeast from Jack Trice across the street from Reiman Gardens.

From there, you will see a lovely collection of students, grills, trucks, pets, beer games, food and of course, cops.

Yes, those cops are all over the place, so the first thing to remember is do not do something stupid.

By doing something stupid, of course, that means underage drinking, fighting over a brat, stealing some girl’s dog, intercepting a football and running away with it even though it’s not yours or wearing something that has a rival’s logo — Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, etc.

By no means does doing any of those things mean you will get arrested by the cops. However, it would be wise to not do any of the aforementioned “crimes.”

As far as food goes, you are probably going to want brats. Not hot dogs, brats. Hot dogs are for baseball games, brats are for football and apparently clone cones are for basketball and volleyball.

Anybody who is anybody could tell you of all the manly American sports, football being manliest of them all.

That is why brats are the choice food item to put on a bun for football tailgating. If you prefer, you could bring ribs or something else, but be sure to always bring the brats.

There was one time a collection of breakfast burritos were brought to the tailgating lot by a friend. Good idea considering the game started at 11:30 a.m.

Just remember when it comes to food, bring brats and be original; use Heinz Ketchup, not the cheap stuff, this is a D-1 college football game after all.

The last piece of advice would be to get there early and not complain when there is a game that starts at 2 p.m. and you have to be there at 9 a.m. to tailgate.

Be thankful you did not have to endure the Gene Chizik days when the man brilliantly decided to schedule games for an 11:30 a.m. start time.

That meant if students wanted to tailgate early and eat enough food, get a good buzz and have enough fun before the team probably lost one of its 19 games during his tenure, they would have to arrive at the lot around 6 a.m.

That is way too early for a college student on a Saturday morning.

So there it is. Have fun this upcoming season as the Cyclones try for a repeat bowl appearance. It may be difficult to do, but no matter how well or how poor the season goes, there’s always tailgating in the student lot.