Through the eyes of various construction cams on campuses around the country, you can take a glance at Kansas State's new sideline addition that will bring the capacity of Wildcat Stadium to a respectable 50,000. It's purple chairback level is especially eye-catching.

Then there's Oklahoma State's "Raise the Roof" campaign that will allow fans to sit in their same suites to watch both basketball and football games. With the raising the roof of Gallagher-Iba arena and using the refurbished seats in the dilapidated end zone of dilapidated Lewis Field, you have to tip your hat to Oklahoma Aggie ingenuity.

Nebraska has a posh new press box and rows of lavish suites. Colorado's Folsom Field has gone to grass, and even Iowa State has moved its press box to the top of the stadium to accommodate those seeking the high life in a new mezzanine suite level.

The Longhorns spruced up Royal-Memorial Stadium last year with a small upper deck on the east side and fancy facade for all to see on I-35.

But, for all of the brick-laying and buck-paying that is permeating college football and the Big 12, the arms race really has only one superpower:

The Zone at Kyle Field.

No other school changed the look and feel of its football stadium like Texas A&M. Think about it: Almost one third of the stadium is new.

No other school tore down 10,000 seats and added 22,000 new ones. Few schools besides A&M and Texas will have stadium clubs with their own interior decorators.

No school besides A&M will feature its booster offices, letterman's museum, team auditorium and more chandeliers than the Titanic in its stadium expansion.

And, while The Zone is still in its finishing stages and construction inconveniences will still be part of game day, the Saturday experience for the Aggie football fan is about to be enhanced 10-fold.

First of all, just walking on the field itself and glancing back toward The Zone sends chills down your spine. This stadium is no longer a three-decked bear with a little tail in the north end zone.

Kyle Field is now a beast, an SEC-looking mammoth that is awe-inspiring... and that's with absolutely no fans inside.

On Sept. 18 for the home opener with Tulsa, the fans will be there in force. And Kyle Field will be changed forever.

It's been an intimidating stadium because of its steep three-deck look. But in all honesty, the symmetry of the stadium was out of whack. The small, poorly-angled horseshoe seemed out of place, as if someone just stuck it there to round out the stadium.

The Zone's decks, however, now give new meaning to the term "cozy," almost dwarfing the sideline decks. In fact, cozy may not be the word to describe what Kyle Field will be like once it's filled to capacity.

Try crazy.

The game with Texas is already a sellout, and A&M athletic director Wally Groff is expecting a crowd close to 85,000. SEC-like, indeed.

Is it a number that just blows away Groff and his financial ledger?

"It does," he said with a smile, "but in a very positive way."

Already The Zone has accomplished much of what it set out to do: Increase season ticket sales. In fact, Groff said a record 30,000 season tickets could be sold, which is a 7,000 ticket increase from last year's record mark.

And once fans actually see the game from their seats and tell their neighbors about their experience, that season ticket sales record will fall again next year.

Having viewed the field from several vantage points in The Zone, I give high marks to most all the seat locations. However, my personal favorite seats reside on the student side of The Zone Club.

Most Club donors scurried for the opposite angled view on the west side or spots directly behind the goal posts. The thinking was that on the east side of the Club, the overhang would not block out the sun. And that is logical thinking.

But in reality, those east side seats may have a few minutes of sun, and in November, a few minutes of sun won't be a bad deal. What makes those seats prime picks in my opinion is the atmosphere.

You have a panoramic view of the entire east side, press box and home team sideline. You are right above the Aggie Band and close to the hoopla that goes on with the Aggie students.

Remember, you're not with the students, just close enough to get a kick out of them.

In any case, this is a different time for Aggie football and their fans. It's the big time, when a highly-ranked A&M team is setting itself up for some memorable seasons in '99 and beyond.

And it's a time when A&M's football facility rivals almost any around. Kyle Field's seating capacity is now in the top 15 in the nation, but more importantly, its game day atmosphere has just strengthened its hold on the nation's top spot.

But for eons, Tennessee's Neyland Stadium and The Swamp at Florida could boast of waves of noise on the field and streams of money headed straight to the athletic department's coffer.

Now, A&M is about to reap the same benefits of increased ticket sales and crowds in excess of 80,000. With Notre Dame, Colorado, Kansas State, Nebraska, Texas and Florida State set to invade Kyle Field in the next five or six years, that translates into millions of new dollars for this university and its athletic program.

The '99 home opener could be the most anticipated kickoff at Kyle since Penn State opened the third decks in 1980. And we're just talking about a game with lowly Tulsa.

The reason fans are counting the days until Sept. 18 is because nothing has changed the look of Kyle Field quite like The Zone. It likely will change the face of A&M football, too.

Said R.C. Slocum in a speech to Zone Club members touring the facility in March: "We're about to have a lot of fun around here."

More fun than I think any Aggie can imagine.