Some things have changed in the last 50 years: culture, music, electronics and the Internet, but Army’s football offense has not been one of them.

The Cyclones (2-1) kick off their fourth game of the season Saturday night, looking to take a 3-1 record into conference play. They will be forced to take on the Army Black Knights (2-1), a notoriously tough football team with unique schemes and undersized linemen. Army brings an option offense to Ames that was popular a half-century years ago, facing off against the newly crowned Big 12 jewel in the spread offense. While Iowa State runs more than many spread teams in the conference, offensive coordinator Tom Herman still feels the time warp pulling him in.

“The last couple days I went and spent a couple minutes in the defensive staff meeting, just to watch and learn, because that’s a part of offensive football I don’t know anything about,” Herman said.

“It is funny to see how the trends in offensive football go from the wishbone to the West Coast, to the I-Formation, and now people are starting to spread out and get in shotgun. I’m sure someday we’ll get back to the wishbone at some point. It’s all cyclical.”

The run-dominated flexbone option will put a dive back and two possible wing backs off the line of scrimmage ready to take a hand-off, meaning the Cyclones won’t have any one player to key in on. Army cycles two quarterbacks, but four of its players average more than 40 yards per game.

The common practice of simulating an opposing team’s style during game-planning will be made more difficult during the week by the defensive side of the ball, with the coordinator of the old “Desert Swarm” leading Army’s defense.

“They take a linebacker and they put him in a flex type of a position, a spot that is not on the line of scrimmage but not back at linebacker depth,” coach Paul Rhoads said of the defense’s floating type player.

“They can use him to twist around, to plug a hole. They can use him in coverage, so it’s a position that you don’t know how to treat, don’t know how to call out and don’t know how to block in regards to how he lines up.”

Offensive recognition before the snap will be vital for the Cyclones to have success against the hybrid position, but the rare advantage of team speed should work in their favor for the second straight week. Army has held teams to 77 yards rushing per game this season, good for 16th in the nation. The ability of the quarterback to change the play at the line that the no-huddle offense provides may prove to be essential to victory for the Cyclones.

“They have had [freedom] in the past, but probably even more so this week,” Herman said.

On offense, the Black Knight’s quarterbacks aren’t bringing tremendously different things to the field, but balanced runners will force the Cyclone defense to stay disciplined. The use of motion and four possible runners, including the quarterback, on any given play will test the front four. Rhoads wants to keep enough team speed on the field to defend anything they come up with.

“It’s about reading your keys, and your keys are always going to tell you what to do. As long as we do that, we can defend what they do,” safety James Smith said.

The Army offensive line has a smurf-ish 267-pound average compared to Iowa State’s 327-pound average, but with dive and cut blocking popularized with quick linemen, the defensive line will have its hands full with assignments and keeping players’ knees intact.

“There’s drills we do… we work it all the time, but this week we’re definitely going to be able to put that to practice,” starting nose guard Nate Frere said.

Another eccentricity the Black Knights are bringing to Ames is running sideshow Ali Villanueva, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound wide receiver who is the leading catch grabber for the team this season. Six grabs for 114 yards and two touchdowns is good for more than 60 percent of the team’s receiving corps, and definitely presents a match-up issue for the Cyclones.

“Any time you’ve got a guy that’s almost a foot taller than most defenders, you’ve got a chance to throw the ball up to him, and I don’t know if you can define it as a jump ball situation,” Rhoads said. “He’s got a decided height advantage and position advantage when it comes to that.”

While the tallest Cyclone defender in the secondary is listed at six feet, the size disadvantage could be made up by strong positioning and forcing Villanueva to go where he isn’t comfortable. Rhoads also felt like the Cyclones could use Villanueva’s size to their advantage on certain pass plays.

“If he bends his knee just right you can kind of use his knee as a ledge, and jump off it and get a little bit of height on him,” Rhoads joked.

The Cyclones and Black Knights are each coming in with a winning record, but both have seen recent flaws and will look for serious correction before facing their polar opposites. The Cyclones died on offense in the second half against an inexperienced Kent State team, showing their youth while almost allowing the Golden Flashes back into a game that appeared nearly over at halftime.

“We’ll make sure, when we get to those points in the game, to remind the guys of what took place, but it also takes place over the course of an entire year when you’re in your off-season program and so on. There are reasons for our level of play dropping down, and we’ll address them as we continue to learn how to win football games,” Rhoads said.

The Black Knights strive for perfection in execution, especially when giving up size and speed to most teams they face, but with six fumbles Saturday against Ball State, Army head coach Rich Ellerson is looking for a deep improvement against a Cyclone defense he categorized as “veteran”.

“The ball is on the ground six times. One was a quarterback sneak, and twice to Pat Mealy [Army’s SB], and that can’t be a problem, that can’t be an issue. That was not a mesh issue, it was just not holding on to the ball on contact. They come in all varieties,” Ellerson said.