If I had any doubts about the quality of Nebraska’s football program, the drive to Lincoln gave me a big clue.

The distance from Omaha to Lincoln is about 50 miles, but the normal 30 minute drive on Interstate 80 took close to two hours.

Because of the game, which wasn’t for another 21/2 hours, traffic on the 65 speed limit zone was backed up for almost the entire 50 miles. Average speed was somewhere around five miles per hour for most of the way.

No construction zones, no accidents, just the No. 1 team in the nation playing at home against Big Eight cellar team Iowa State.

Saturday was the 207th consecutive sellout in Memorial Stadium dating back to Nov. 3, 1962, against Missouri.

A sellout in Lincoln doesn’t mean just a bunch of football fans — it means “The Red Sea” — and I mean RED. I think almost every one of the 75,505 people in attendance at the game had some sort of Husker red apparel on.

Being inside the stadium was like being at the Super Bowl. A giant television screen, with a picture as clear as a bell, showed the Huskers outside of the locker room before they came on the field. As the announcer gave an opening prologue not unlike the Book of Genesis, an eerie musical score boomed through the stadium. The screen then showed the team as Head Coach Tom Osborne and the Cornhuskers made their way through the hallways and onto the field.

It’s times like this when a person can tell the difference between a good football program and THE BEST in the nation.

After the game, ISU Coach Dan McCarney said it best.

“I can’t imagine any college program in the country wouldn’t say they’re the epitome in college football. It’s an elite model program for anybody else in college football.”

Try most NFL programs, coach.

It’s no wonder a team like Nebraska can draw in top high school recruits like Tommie Frazier and Lawrence Phillips. What player coming out of small high school games wouldn’t want to play in front of that big of a crowd in that kind of atmosphere?

The Iowa State football facilities and athletic environment pale in comparison, but McCarney and athletic director Gene Smith are working on it. Soon the Cyclones will be playing on natural grass and the Jacobson Building will supposedly rival many other college facilities, but I think it still boils down to the fans.

Big TV screens and huge stadiums are great, but a football team still needs that “Red Sea” to fill up the stadium and watch the screen.

Obviously, Nebraska has done something right — 207 consecutive sellouts don’t lie. The Huskers haven’t been No. 1 in the nation every game since 1962.

Hopefully someday I’ll be able to return to Ames and watch the Cyclones on a huge television screen that gives a much better picture than the current scoreboard screen.

Hopefully someday I’ll be able to watch an opening prologue that rivals any Star Wars movie as the Cyclones prepare to take the grass field.

And hopefully someday I’ll be able to watch McCarney and the Cyclones physically whip Nebraska, 73-14, but it all starts with the fans — but all of those other things wouldn’t hurt.

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Jason Howland is a senior in journalism from Riceville. He is sports editor of the Daily.