When ISU coach Dan McCarney looks across the field to the Nebraska sideline Saturday, he’ll see in Nebraska coach Bill Callahan — a familiar face who will now be his foe.

During the early 1990s, McCarney and Callahan both spent time on the Wisconsin coaching staff.

McCarney was the Badgers’ defensive coordinator, battling every day against Callahan’s offensive line.

“We were there every day competing against each other — my player, his player, my group, his group,” McCarney said.

Once the season was over, McCarney and Callahan hit the road and went on the recruiting trail.

“There wasn’t anybody I enjoyed more than going on the road together recruiting with than Bill Callahan. I think it’s the Irish in both of us — we enjoyed a lot of great times together,” McCarney said.

Callahan was hired as Nebraska’s head coach after the Huskers fired Frank Solich, who finished last season with a 10-3 record.

McCarney said he knew Callahan would be successful at Nebraska and that Callahan had no part in Solich’s firing. But McCarney said he still had mixed feelings in situations like that because of his friendship with Solich.

“Frank Solich is also a real good friend of mine, and I’m proud to have him as a friend,” McCarney said.

“I didn’t like to see what happened to him after winning 10 games; those are the types of things that happen in this profession, and you can’t figure them out.”

McCarney said when game time comes, all the friendships are thrown out the window.

“We will always be good friends, we will always have a strong relationship … but it’s strictly business for those three hours and 15 minutes on Saturday,” he said. “Afterwards, whatever happens, we’ll wish each other the best of luck and still look forward to hooking up at the Big 12 meetings, but there isn’t anything about friendships during that three-hour football game.”

Callahan said every game is important, whether it’s Oklahoma or Iowa State.

“I don’t look at our [game plan] as to who we’re playing, when we’re playing. All I’m looking at is how well we’re playing,” he said.

“That’s what I’m concerned about — I can’t control all that other stuff, and I can’t get wrapped up in it.”

ISU offensive coordinator Barney Cotton, who joined the Cyclones in January, also has Husker ties.

Cotton was a three-year letterwinner at Nebraska from 1976-78 and started on both the offensive and defensive lines for coach Tom Osborne.

He returned to Nebraska last fall as the team’s offensive coordinator, leading the Husker rushing offense to a No. 7 national ranking.

Cotton has declined to comment to the media regarding the upcoming battle with Nebraska.

McCarney said Cotton’s focus isn’t about Barney Cotton vs. Nebraska.

It’s about Iowa State doing something this week that nobody thought it could do — be in a position to win the Big 12 North and be one of the most improved teams in the nation.

“I think that’s a lot more important than ‘Those son-of-a-guns let me go, they fired me, and I’m getting back at them,’ I just don’t sense that,” McCarney said.

“Barney hasn’t said it to me or the players; he might have said it to his wife, but he sure hasn’t said it to anybody around here.”

McCarney said the advantages of once coaching with or for the opposition are “overrated.”

“It’s way overrated as far as game day and being able to affect the outcome of a game,” McCarney said.

“What you do get is better insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the players they coached.”