Saturday night, I had what can only be described as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was in Lincoln, Neb., if that gives you any clue.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers’ 49-14 thrashing of the Iowa State Cyclones was, unfortunately, not the once in a lifetime experience to which I’m referring. I have seen such a thrashing many times as an ISU fan, and I am quite sure I will see many more.

But to experience a game in Memorial Stadium, Nebraska’s home field, was truly an awesome experience. Regardless of the game, I knew I was in for a thrill. The only stadium I’d been in, other than Jack Trice Stadium and Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, was Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kans., which might as well have been a high school stadium. And I had the fiberglass slivers in my butt to prove it.

But this was big-time. According to the official Cornhusker Web site, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln seats 74,081. Compared to Jack Trice’s 43,000 seat capacity, I knew this was going to be quite a sight.

And there are really no words to describe it. The crowd noise was unbelievable and could be felt, as well as heard, for miles. Even a half-hour before kickoff, virtually every seat was filled with a sea of red Nebraska fans chanting “Go Big Red!”

The skybox that lined the upper deck of the west side was over three times the size of ISU’s and cast a shadow upon the entire stadium. The brand-new turf, a revolutionary kind of artificial turf that feels and looks like grass, looked beautiful in the lights. Two wide-screen, full-color monitors, which played the entire game, graced the northwest and southeast corners of the stadium.

And unlike Jack Trice Stadium, where even a front row seat seems a ways off, Memorial Stadium seating was right on the field. Fans in front rows could have reached out and touched the players on routine plays. This created a deafening sound in the stadium and especially for the ISU players on the field.

No wonder head coach Dan McCarney said it was the hardest place to play in the country.

So, we all know how the game went. With all the penalties, personal fouls and I think maybe a holding call every other down, I can hardly say that ISu played its best football. But even if it did, I believe the outcome would have been the same. We just didn’t have the horses to compete. Few teams do. Alas, our beloved Cyclones have a long way to go before they reach this caliber of football.

I don’t feel at all ashamed to say that I hope we never do.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Coach McCarney and his staff build a program that eventually will be a perennial Top 25 team. I would love to see ISU romping all over quality teams like Texas and Kansas State every year. I would love to bring in the New Year by being in warm weather at a bowl game. And I would love to see us vying for a National Championship.

But what this could potentially do to the program, I would not love, but hate, to see.

It made me ill to see how commercialized Nebraska football is. I’m not kidding you — they must have had 40 different sponsors, ranging from Pepsi to Jennie O’s. Every instant replay on the two widescreen monitors was brought to us by a different sponsor.

Though they were breathtaking, by the end of the game, I wanted to knock those monitors down. Throughout the game, they played shameless video footage promoting not just their football team, but mainly the sponsors that give them money.

Gimmicks included a race of cartoon Pepsi products through the stadium and a game in which the goal was to pick the hat that the Amigos product is hidden under.

We’ve all seen such promotional games before. They are staples of professional games. But I was not at a professional game; I was at a college game. Of course, I wouldn’t have known it by the ticket prices. According to one Nebraska fan, student tickets cost $35 a game, while Iowa State students are able to pay $42 for six Cyclone games.

Now, I don’t know if Nebraska football has always been like this, but chances are it hasn’t. More than likely, it started just as every football program starts, with a team, a field and some fans.

But five National Championships later, Nebraska probably makes the most money of any football team in the Midwest, both collegiate and professional. And from the description of the stadium, do I have to tell you where a majority of that money goes?

I’m not knocking the stadium at all. Nebraska has incredible fan support, and if they need an immense stadium to accommodate them, then by all means, build one.

But does a college team really need gorgeous skybox seating? Do they need two giant color monitors devoted almost entirely to promoting the sponsors that give them money?

College sports is, and has always been, secondary to academics. Most people go to college to learn and earn a degree. If he or she can go to a few games or even play in a few games while they are there then that is added enjoyment. The money that is generated by an athletic program should first be used to further the academic goals of the institution.

Though ISU does not play the caliber of football that Nebraska does, I still am proud of the quality school I attend. And I love to go to the games and will continue to go even if Coach McCarney never builds us into a national powerhouse.

But if he does, may we not go the way that so many programs have. May ticket prices stay reasonable and fans stay respectable. And may we keep a college football game what it was always intended to be, a football game. Save the corporate sponsors for the pros.

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Jackson Lashier is a junior in English from Marshalltown.