The Cyclone football team made history during its 2000 season. With the help of more than 15,000 fans who made the trip to the Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix, the Bank One Ballpark was transformed into “Jack Trice Stadium Southwest.”ISU students flooded into Phoenix to watch the Cyclones beat the Pittsburgh Panthers 37-29, claiming their first nine-win season since 1906, their first bowl appearance in 22 years and their first bowl win ever.”The game was awesome,” said Mark Mommsen, sophomore in agricultural engineering. “I think it was the best game of the year, and it was nice to see them win after driving all the way across the country.”The ISU players were grateful to the fans who followed them south.”We got out fast, and we started the way we wanted to start,” said defensive end Reggie Hayward. “We slowed down in the third and fourth quarters, and without the fan support, the outcome could have been different. They got behind us and picked us up and were like the 12th man out there.”As Cyclone quarterback Sage Rosenfels took a knee for the final play of the game, ISU fans stormed the field in a frenzied celebration. After unsuccessful attempts in Ames, the sea of students brought the Phoenix goal posts to the ground.”It was pretty cool,” said John Mangan, sophomore in agricultural engineering. “We saw security try to stop us from going out on the field, but we went right through them. Once [the goal posts] came down, we broke it into pieces. I was in front, carrying it around the field.”Fans scoured the field for souvenirs, bringing a piece of Arizona back to the snow and cold of the Midwest.”We got a piece of the end-zone sod,” Mangan said. “I think my sister took it to school for show and tell.”This celebration was well earned for many of the Cyclone fans after they faced brutal-winter weather and treacherous stretches of road heading to Arizona. Snowstorms and ice forced delays and drove some bowl-bound fans into ditches.Brett Ketelsen, freshman in construction engineering, said he stopped in Oklahoma and slept in a hotel rather than risk continuing on the ice-laden roads.”We were planning on stopping in Vegas on the way down, but we didn’t quite make it,” Ketelsen said.However, he said the delays were overshadowed by the rest of the trip. ISU fans came out of the wintery weather into Arizona with its landscape dominated by palm trees and cacti and its temperatures hovering in the mid-70s.Some members of the ISU football team credited their win to the overwhelming majority of Cyclone fans at the stadium.”What I really loved was the Iowa State turnout,” said defensive back Marc Timmons. “We had so many fans here, and they were really helpful. It was a sea of red, and the band was good — everything was great.”Head coach Dan McCarney said the fans played an integral part in the first bowl victory in Cyclone history.”It’s hard to put into words,” he said. “It makes you feel so good when you see the passion, enthusiasm and emotion they have for this football team and what we have accomplished. They mean the world to us, and to see that sea of red in the stands was a magnificent feeling.”