Here's a very interesting, very long, and very detailed breakdown of the evolution of the Air Raid offense so prevalent in the Big XII...

Enjoy reading something that's actually about sports, for a change...

The Air Raid Offense: History, Evolution, Weirdness
– From Mumme to Leach to Franklin to Holgorsen and Beyond

Quote:The personal story of the rise and development of the Air Raid offense, the story of the men who developed and mastered it — its originators, Hal Mumme and Mike Leach, as well as coaches like Tony Franklin and Dana Holgorsen – has been told many times and told very well. The offense itself, its raw structure, plays, and formations, nevertheless deserves deeper study given its incredible rise, its increasing importance, and and its almost shocking omnipresence, in one form or another, at every level of football.

But the Air Raid’s evolution over time has been even more fascinating than the playbook at any one moment of time. To paraphrase Holmes, a playbook is but a crystal, transparent and unchanged, and fails to convey the pressures that led to its existence or give any indication how it will continue to be shaped and reshaped over time. Indeed, the coaches who’ve taught and learned the Air Raid have changed, the players and formations have changed, and even the plays themselves have changed. The offense, however, remains, both shaped by these coaches and their players and somehow shaping each of them in the process. The wishbone and the Wing-T were playbooks, Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense a meticulous method of gameplanning, but the Air Raid is something more akin to an idea, or at least several related ones: The idea that that to be get an advantage at modern football you need to be particularly good at something, and to be good at something you have to commit to that something, and if you’re going to commit to something it might as well be different. And thus the principles underlying the Air Raid exist almost externally from the many coaches who have taught it: a diligent, many-reps approach to practice; a pass-first and spread the wealth philosophy; and, above all else, the edict to be willing to live in the extremes, to do things just a bit differently, to approach the game unlike other coaches, to be willing, in a game where conformity is king, to be just a little bit weird.

This article is therefore less about the blood and tissue of the Air Raid’s story — the personal stories of the men like Mumme and Leach who shaped the offense, though there is some of that too — but is instead about its bones: the history and evolution of the actual formations, plays, concepts, and gameplans that made up what you saw on some random Saturday a decade ago and will see on Saturdays this fall. This story is too complex of course for a single article, but we can still distill the broad themes to their essence and focus on four main storylines to the Air Raid’s story: the classical period, including the birth of the Air Raid from its BYU roots and the original”two-back package used at Valdosta State and Kentucky; Leach’s Texas Tech era, where the head pirate-in-charge tweaked the offense and as a result the Air Raid found a home in the southwest and flourished like it never had before; the offense’s bubbling up from the high school ranks, led by former outcast Tony Franklin and his Tony Franklin System; and the next generation of Air Raid innovators, led by Dana Holgorsen and others, who have begun the work of deconstructing the offense for a modern and everchanging game.

That's about 1% of the article. Follow the link for the rest...

It's well worth it, especially if you're sick and tired of reading about expansion scenarios...

Thanks for the link! I really wish Adam James had never ended up at TT, although they may have found another way to force out Leach. He's definitely a character.

The fellow that wrote that article is right about Tony Franklin doing more to spread the proliferation of the offense at the HS level. It's ironic that he did it after he was banned from coaching. But because of the way he did it, he didn't stay banned forever. Nearly half the HS football programs nationwide now run some form of the Air Raid offense, as broken down by The System...

The Air Raid was what forced the Big 12 out of the press man schemes prevalent in the 90s. The almost exclusive use of man coverage with loaded fronts and blitzes was abused until teams picked up on it.

The best exhibit of this is 2000 OU.

Every team that used man coverage and blitzed Heupel was humilated. His quick release was able to cover for an OL that would probably be 8th best in today's big 12. It wasn't until teams stopped rushing 5 guys and made those guys block their front that his #s came back down to earth. This is a big reason why 2001 OU did nothing of note on offense. Most teams simply backed off all year and the OL wasn't up to the task.


Also on the other side of the ball OU moved from the press scheme with tons of man coverage Stoops used in 1999 at OU and in his UF & KSU coordinator jobs into the now-familiar zone look. Their use of matchup zones like quarters with the safeties acting as "robbers" was able to deny the deep ball and make all the "power run and play action with 2 backs and a TE" offenses of the time look foolish. With a safe deep shell they could get 8 and 9 near the ball without giving up much in the air. They could also bring unique zone blitzes that teams really hadn't seen that much of. They had their CB's take the widest deep threat to their side of the field and then the safeties could take the #2 threat if it went deep or help out elsewhere if they didn't. It was suffocating until teams spread it out more and QB play improved.

The 2000 Texas-OU game is a perfect example. OU's WRs ran short stuff, crossing routes, and screens all day and UT's man coverage had no answer and it got worse as they blitzed.

On the other side of the ball look at the first play for UT. UT tries the lead draw they gashed OU in 99 with. Same blocking vs the front 7 but the difference is Roy Williams is now in the box and clogs the lane. Torrance Marshall makes the tackle but doesn't get a shot at the RB without Roy being there. The pass game faced frequent zone blitzes they had no answer for as well.

Full game- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQoUK4HtV...re=related

OU Highlights- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7O97sozoUo

The Air Raid gave rise to Jim McMahon, and the rest of the star studded BYU line of QBs...

What you're talking about came in the 2nd iteration of the offense, Sammy...

(07-11-2012 09:38 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  The Air Raid gave rise to Jim McMahon, and the rest of the star studded BYU line of QBs...

What you're talking about came in the 2nd iteration of the offense, Sammy...

Jim McMahon was in the old BYU offense which was the foundation of it.

I was talking about it's effect here in the Big 12.

There's some more effect coming...

Have either of you read the Essential Smart Football book he links on his site? If so, was it worthwhile? It's about $4 on Kindle now, so if it's a good read it's definitely a bargain.

It's worthwhile reading...

Great read man... thx for sharing