It’s been 25 years since Tom Randall has put on the cardinal-and-gold jersey, but he could swear it’s his team out there on the football field this year.

“It’s been a fun year to watch,” Randall said. “These guys remind me of the guys I played with. It’s reminiscent of the ’70s.”

Randall was an all-conference defensive tackle for the 1977 Cyclones, who played in the Peach Bowl under head coach Earle Bruce. Now he attends every game as a season ticket holder and also emcees the Cyclone Club luncheons with Iowa State head football coach Dan McCarney, whom Randall credits with a lot of the Cyclones’ recent success.

“[McCarney’s] doing a phenomenal job of recruiting and getting the team to play tough,” Randall said. “We’re real fortunate to have him. We had a couple decades go down the tank and he’s pulled us up again. Now we’re going into November with some fire.”

And how about the recent string of wins over intrastate rival Iowa?

“No matter what anyone says, when you’re an Iowa Stater, there is nothing sweeter than beating Iowa,” Randall said. “And this year to beat Nebraska too. Those are the biggest rivalries we have and we beat them both.”

Randall said being a player on a good team and then watching the program slide downhill during the 1980s and early 1990s was unfortunate. But he now feels the program is back.

“It was tough to watch after being around good football all the time,” he said. “To watch it go where it went, it was a shame. But I always said ‘Our day will come.’ And now we’re back; the stadium is full again.”

Former Cyclone football player George Amundson agrees that the Cyclones are a team to be reckoned with.

“They’re awesome,” Amundson said. “I feel so sorry for them. I’m waiting for them to have a break in their schedule but they are playing all of these top 10 teams. They’ve overcome tremendous obstacles.”

Amundson was a quarterback for Iowa State in 1972 and became Iowa State’s first player to top 2,000 yards of total offense in a season, setting a Big 8 Conference mark. He earned Big 8 Player of the Year honors and was a first-team All-America selection by Gold Sheet of Los Angeles.

He left Iowa State owning 22 ISU records and was chosen in the first round of the 1973 draft by the Houston Oilers.

Amundson attributes the success of this year’s team to both the coaching and the players. As a former quarterback, he said that Seneca Wallace is the real deal.

“Seneca is just a special quarterback. It would be neat if he could get the Heisman up there to Ames,” Amundson said. “I also attribute the winning to the coach getting more comfortable and getting the players that he wants around him.”

Amundson is still an Iowa State fan from his home in Texas, which may be partly due to the fact that his daughter, freshman Katy Amundson, is a member of the Iowa State volleyball team.

And although he admits he can’t follow the Cyclone football team as much as he would like to, he is still an Iowa State fan through and through.

“You betcha,” Amundson said. “There’s a lot of love there that will never go away. I just dream of the days when that was us.”

He said he keeps in contact with many of his former football players, mostly at reunions. “We like to talk about how good we were. It’s amazing how we are getting better every year,” Amundson said.

Randall also admits it is fun to reminisce about his college football days. The Peach Bowl team will be having their 25th reunion this weekend at the football game.

“I’m sure we will be doing a lot of reminiscing about our team and talking about this year’s team too,” Randall said.

As for advice for the current players, Randall said he couldn’t tell them anything they don’t know.

“I would say to keep doing what you’re doing,” he said. “They’re a hard-hitting, hard-playing team. Lay it all on the field because before you know it, it’s over.”

The Cyclones currently stand at 6-3 after losing the last two games to Oklahoma and Texas on the road. They will be back at home again Saturday against Missouri.