Denver ? The wildest road trip since “Animal House” rocks on.

The next stop for Big Ben, The Bus and all those Terrible Towels will be the Super Bowl in Detroit, thanks to a 34-17 dismantling of the Denver Broncos on Sunday in the AFC title game.

“We were sitting, looking at an outside shot to be in the Super Bowl,” Steelers linebacker Clark Haggans said. “This is an unbelievable feeling to be here right now.”

Unbelievable and almost unprecedented.

Led by 275 yards and two passing touchdowns from Ben Roethlisberger and a touchdown by Jerome Bettis, the Steelers became the first team since the 1985 Patriots to win three postseason road games en route to the Super Bowl. Counting the regular season, they’ve played five of their last six away from Pittsburgh.

Next up: Seattle, a 34-14 winner over Carolina in the NFC title game. The teams will meet in two weeks at Ford Field, and the Steelers were the early favorite by 31â2 points.

And while there’s no Otter or Boon – the characters who called for a road trip when things got tough for the Delta House fraternity – this Pittsburgh group has plenty of characters of its own.

There’s Bettis, The Bus, who stuck around for a 13th year with hopes of playing in his first Super Bowl, in his hometown of Detroit.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Cedric Wilson pulls in a 12-yard touchdown pass ahead of Denver cornerback Champ Bailey (24) as teammate Hines Ward celebrates. Pittsburgh defeated Denver, 34-17, Sunday in Denver and will play Feb. 5 in the Super Bowl against Seattle.

There’s Roethlisberger, Big Ben, the second-year quarterback who looked every bit the veteran in this one, completing 21 of 29 passes and keeping the Steelers going on six of seven crucial third-down situations in the first half.

There’s the coach, jut-jawed Bill Cowher, who worked the sideline in his usual manner, jabbing his finger at Bettis, then hugging him, smiling and scowling, too. This was tough love at its best – and good enough to move the Steelers back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995.

And all those loyal Pittsburgh fans. An estimated 8,000 came to Denver and they stayed well after the game, waving their Terrible Towels in the corner of Invesco Field until security had to ask them to leave.

“It feels great today, I’ll tell you that,” owner Dan Rooney said. “The coach already told me we’re going to the Super Bowl to win it, not just to be there.”

Outschemed, outplayed and pushed around all day, the Broncos (14-4) shuffled off to their locker room, heads down, after their first home loss in 10 tries this season.