Iowa State head football coach Dan McCarney remembers the last time he was in Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium vividly.

“I haven’t been back over there since the 80s, but I remember it well. I remember it vividly, the 57-0 drubbing that we took and running off the field at halftime and there’s 90,000 of them laughing at you,” McCarney said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

That was in 1980 when McCarney was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. The Cornhuskers were ranked No. 6 in the country before that game, and they finished the season at 10-2 and No. 7 in the country.

This year’s Nebraska team is at the top of the polls.

“Many veteran teams have gone over there and been demolished as a football team, much less a young one like the one I have here at Iowa State,” McCarney said.

“Believe me, we’re not going to be preparing and coaching to lose this football game. We’re going to prepare these kids to win, and it’s going to be extremely tough as everybody knows.”

Memorial Stadium’s capacity is listed at 73,650 and the Cyclones expect to be barraged by crowd noise during Saturday’s game.

“We’ve been working on a quick snap, the quarterback just lifts his foot up and then snaps it in two seconds or the count of two, so that will pretty much help us out,” said Patrick Augafa, a junior and starting center for ISU. “I know the noise is going to be a big factor, but we’ll probably game-plan some other things too.”

McCarney said his team will not use loud noise during this week’s practice, but his coaches will take the players on a walk around the stadium several hours before the game to help them get a feel for the atmosphere.

“We’ve used crowd noise before and all I get is a headache out of it at every program,” he said. “We’ll get them ready, and we’ll talk to them about it. We’re going to walk around the stadium when we get there the day of the game.”

I think the most important thing is that we’ve got to educate them about what the atmosphere’s going to be like because we’ve been at TCU and at Kansas, and it’s not even close. It’s a no-contest from an environment standpoint, atmosphere of noise.”

Freshman quarterback Todd Bandhauer, who will start for the injured Todd Doxzon, said he has experienced the big game atmosphere.

“I have quite a bit because I’ve been to just about every University of Florida home game for the last five years,” Bandhauer said. “I remember when Charlie Ward was a junior at Florida State and they played at the stadium in Florida. You couldn’t even hear yourself think it was so loud in there and I know the crowd factor is going to be a huge difference in this game.”

“I love playing in front of a big crowd. It’s great playing in front of a bunch of people anytime you’re doing anything,” Bandhauer said.

McCarney said Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier is one of the best athletes he’s seen in college football.

“[At Colorado] he makes a play where he’s getting sacked, a guy’s got a hold of him with both arms, and he’s pulling him down. He’s got no legs or feet into the throw whatsoever; it’s all arm, and he throws a gun out there; throws a shot,” he said. “It was unbelievable. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it in college football.”

“I remember seeing high school tape on him and you knew he was going to be sensational — you just didn’t know where it was going to be. Here, I’m lucky enough and fortunate enough to get to go coach against him at Nebraska,” he smiled.

McCarney said some people, especially Nebraskans, may consider Saturday’s game the battle of the Heisman hopefuls, but people should consider how they measure performances. The Cyclones are a very young team during a rebuilding year, and they boast the nation’s leading rusher, while Nebraska is a perennial powerhouse with outstanding players at almost every position.

“Some people might do it, and I’m sure Nebraska will be motivated to try and turn it into a no-contest for the Heisman in that game, but all I’m measuring Troy Davis on, and hopefully people around the country are measuring on, are what he’s done in the season.”