Sadly, the magic carpet that our football team was riding seemed to quickly unravel Saturday afternoon as the Oklahoma Sooners stomped our boys 49-3. It was a wake-up call that the whole country witnessed via national television. It was a cold, rainy day followed by mistake after mistake by Iowa State. Seneca Wallace and his fellow Cyclones are apparently human after all.

There was an extreme amount of hype going into last Saturday’s top 10 matchup. First of all it was the first time Iowa State has ever been a top 10 team. Never, until the week of Oct. 13, 2002, had Iowa State ever been ranked above eleventh in the AP poll. Throw that on top of the burning fire that is Wallace and his Heisman hopes and you have an extraordinary amount of pressure placed on the shoulders of a good football team. And it was too much.

The Sooners tossed our players around like rag dolls. They could do no wrong, and obviously we could do no right. It is easily the worst performance ISU has put up in a decade. As I sat there listening to the game at work I just kept saying, “Please just get one touchdown, guys, for self-respect.” Unfortunately we had no such luck. Iowa State has never beaten a top 5 team, and Oklahoma made sure they were not the first. Not only did they make sure, but they did it with quite a bit of authority.

Now the Cyclones are 6-2 overall, with the only other loss being a heartbreaking come-from-behind-to-almost-win-it-at-the-last-second defeat at the hands of Florida State. Despite the abysmal performance in Oklahoma, we still have to be proud of what these guys are doing.

The 2002 Iowa State Cyclone football team is more than likely the best football team that this school has ever seen. It is chock-full of great athletes like Michael Wagner, Matt Word, Wallace of course, and many more. These players have come from all over the country, including Texas, California and Florida.

Wallace is one of those guys that comes to us from California. He is undeniably the team leader. I do not think there is another guy I would rather have at the helm of the best football team in the history of the program than Wallace. Minus his performance against the Sooners, he has put up awesome and consistent numbers against many great teams such as Iowa and Nebraska. Everyone has those days in which they do not live up to their own standards. Wallace appears to have had his on October 19. Like I said before, he is only human.

One of my favorite things about Wallace is that he does not seem to let the media exposure go to his head. When asked if his performance Saturday would hurt his Heisman hopes, he responded, “Who cares.” It just seemed like stars and individualist ideas do not cloud his judgment. Wallace is part of a team, even if he is the leader of it. Without them, he would be nothing and they would be nothing.

The team would also be nothing without the support of its fans. Attendance at games this year has been extremely high. I have heard people say the fair-weather fans have come out to watch. Perhaps this is true. I know I went to my first Cyclone football game ever this month. It is not to say I have not seen them on TV, but being there to root for the team with others is better by tenfold.

I cannot wait to go to another one, which unfortunately will not be for another month or so. It does not matter if they win or lose; the atmosphere is such an adrenaline rush. The players have to feel that, too. When the audience is chanting “Wallace, Wallace,” shaking their keys to make more noise, and just all-out on their feet yelling the entire game, you know it has got to feel good to have that kind of support. If it gives me a rush, I can only imagine what it does for those guys who are playing their hearts out.

I am so sad that the next game I actually get to go see is not until the Connecticut game on Nov. 23. I will have to be content to listen to the excitement through the radio at work. With games like Texas and Kansas State coming up, you can bet my ear will be glued to the speaker. Texas is definitely going to be a tough game considering how much better they fared against the Sooners. But I have faith that the Cyclones can pull a win out of the magical hat and get back on track.

The loss was tough, but I still think that this team is amazing. Texas better be on the lookout for a hungry squad this coming Saturday. Coach Dan McCarney, his staff and these players have something really special. As the Cyclone football home page states so eloquently, it is a great time to be a Cyclone.

Ayrel Clark is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Johnston. She is a member of the Daily’s

editorial board.