In an e-mail message to ISU students Wednesday, ISU head football coach Dan McCarney said student support of the football team has been a major factor in its success at home.

“We have won 16 of our last 21 games at [Jack Trice Stadium], the best mark in Ames since World War I,” McCarney said in the e-mail.

McCarney said nothing gets the team fired up like support from their own — the students.

“I remember last season when our team came out for pregame warm-ups before the Nebraska game,” he said. “The student section was already packed, and the vocal support from our students sent a shiver up my spine. It was the start of a day none of us will ever forget.”

They Cyclones defeated No. 20 Nebraska 36-14 Sept. 28, 2002. The attendance mark for that game was 51,888, the largest turnout of the season for home games.

McCarney said he will be counting on the students on Saturday. “Remember, all of us in the stands and on the field represent Iowa State University,” he said.

Get there early, McCarney said.

“You can begin lining up at Jack Trice Stadium gates one, two and three, starting at 6 a.m.,” he said. “Let’s make it a day we will remember the rest of our lives.”

Stadium gates open at 9:30 a.m. Kickoff is at 11:40 a.m.