American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

the air raid offense refers to an offensive scheme popularized by such coaches as Mike Leach,

Hal Mumme Hal Clay Mumme (born March 29, 1952) is a former American football coach and former player. He most recently served as an offensive advisor for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL. Previously, Mumme served as the head football coach at Iowa Wesleyan ...

Sonny Dykes Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Meth ...

, and Tony Franklin during their tenures at

Iowa Wesleyan University Iowa Wesleyan University is a private university in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. It is Iowa's first co-educational institution of higher learning and the oldest of its type west of the Mississippi River. The institution is affiliated with the United Me ...

Valdosta State Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

, and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

. The system is designed out of a

shotgun formation The shotgun formation is a formation used by the offensive team in gridiron football mainly for passing plays, although some teams use it as their base formation. Instead of the quarterback receiving the snap from center at the line of scrimmag ...

with four wide receivers and one running back. The formations are a variation of the

run and shoot offense The run and shoot offense (also known as Run N' Shoot) is an offensive system for American football which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former ...

with two outside receivers and two inside slot receivers. The offense also uses

trips formation A trips formation is an offensive football formation, initially used by Joe Gibbs and the Washington Redskins, in which three receivers line up on the same side of the field. The side is usually specified by the quarterback calling "Trips right" ...

s featuring three wide receivers on one side of the field and a lone single receiver on the other side.

History

The offense owes much to the influence of BYU head coach

LaVell Edwards Reuben LaVell Edwards (October 11, 1930 – December 29, 2016) was an American football head coach for Brigham Young University (BYU). With 257 career victories, he ranks as one of the most successful college football coaches of all time. Among ...

, who used the splits and several key passing

concepts Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s while coaching players such as

Jim McMahon James Robert McMahon Jr. (born August 21, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. McMahon played college football at BYU, where he was ...

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccane ...

Robbie Bosco Robbie Bosco (born January 11, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played college football at Brigham Young University (BYU). He is a native of Roseville, California. College career In 1984, Bosco took over as starting quarterb ...

, and

Ty Detmer Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He won the Heisman Trophy in 1990 while playing college football for the BYU Cougars. D ...

. Mike Leach has made reference that he and

largely incorporated much of the BYU passing attack into what is now known as the air raid offense. Some of the concepts such as the shallow cross route were incorporated into such offenses as the

West Coast offense In American football, the West Coast offense is an offense that places a greater emphasis on passing than on running. There are two similar but distinct offensive strategic systems that are commonly referred to as "West Coast offenses". Original ...

during the early 1990s as well, prominently under

Mike Shanahan Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he le ...

while he was the head coach of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

. The offense first made its appearance when Mumme and Leach took over at

Iowa Wesleyan College Iowa Wesleyan University is a private university in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. It is Iowa's first co-educational institution of higher learning and the oldest of its type west of the Mississippi River. The institution is affiliated with the United Met ...

and

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU ...

and had success there during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first exposure into NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) was at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

starting in 1997. There, Mumme and Leach helped turn highly touted QB

Tim Couch Timothy Scott Couch (born July 31, 1977) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He played college football at Kentucky, where he set the Southeaster ...

into a star and later a first overall NFL draft pick. Leach then served as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach r ...

at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

in 1999 before landing the head coaching job at

. Shortly into the early 2000s, assistant coaches started landing head coaching jobs such as Chris Hatcher at Valdosta State, Art Briles (first at

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

then Baylor),

(first at

, then at

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Ruffin McNeill Ruffin Horne McNeill Jr. (born October 8, 1958) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the special assistant to the head coach at NC State University. He previously served as the assistant head coach and outside ...

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its origi ...

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is the head football coach at the University of Houston. He was the head coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018. During his coaching career he has served under coaches such as Hal Mumme, Mike ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, and

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University o ...

(first at Houston, then

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

). Arizona Cardinals head coach

Kliff Kingsbury Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously a collegiate football coach from 2008 to ...

(Mike Leach's first quarterback at Texas Tech) runs the offense as well.

Air raid system

The scheme is notable for its focus on passing. As many as 65–75% of the calls during a season result in a passing play. The quarterback has the freedom to audible to any play based on what the defense is showing him at the line of scrimmage. In at least one instance, as a result of the quarterback's ability to audible, as many as 90% of the run plays called in a season were chosen by audible at the line of scrimmage. An important element in this offense is the use of no huddle. The quarterback and the offense race up to the line of scrimmage, diagnose what the defense is showing, and then snap the ball based on the quarterback's play call. This not only allows a team to come back if they are many points down as seen in the 2006 Insight Bowl, but it also allows them to tire out the defense, allowing for bigger runs and longer pass completions. The fast pace limits the defense's ability to substitute players and adjust their scheme. The hurried pace can cause defensive mental mistakes such as missed assignments, being out of position or too many men on the field. Another important aspect of the air raid offense is the split of the offensive linemen. In a conventional offense, the linemen are bunched together fairly tightly but in an air raid offense, linemen are often split apart about a half to a full yard from another. While in theory this allows easier blitz lanes, it forces the

defensive ends Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is pl ...

and defensive tackles to run further to reach the quarterback for a sack. The quick, short passes offset any

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

that may come. Another advantage is that by forcing the defensive line to widen, it opens up wide passing lanes for the quarterback to throw the ball through with less chance of having his pass knocked down or intercepted. Fundamental air raid play concepts include Mesh, Stick and Corner, All Curls, 4 Verts, and Fast Screens. These plays are designed to get the ball out of the quarterback's hand quickly, stretch the defense horizontally and vertically, and allow the quarterback to key on one defensive player who will be forced to make a decision on which receiver to cover in his assigned area. While air raid plays are commonly designed to beat zone coverages, they also work well against man-to-man schemes since air raid offenses often employ receivers with more than average speed, thus giving them an advantage in man-to-man coverage. The mesh concept is the bread and butter of the air raid offense and stretches the defense vertically with an outside receiver running a deep route, typically a post route, the running back sliding out into the flat after checking for blocking assignments, and the two remaining receivers running shallow crossing routes that setup a natural pick, or coverage rub.

Coaches

– head coach at

1992–1996, Kentucky 1997–2000, SE Louisiana 2003–2004,

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

2005–2008, McMurry 2009–2012, and Belhaven 2014-2017; offensive coordinator at SMU 2013. ** Mike Leach – offensive coordinator under Mumme at Valdosta State 1992–1996 then Kentucky 1997–1998; offensive coordinator at Oklahoma 1999; head coach at Texas Tech 2000–2009; head coach at Washington State 2012–2019; head coach at Mississippi State 2020-2022. ***

Mark Mangino Mark Thomas Mangino (born August 26, 1956) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Kansas from 2002 to 2009. In 2007, Mangino received several national coach of the year honors after leading ...

– offensive line coach at Oklahoma in 1999 under Leach; offensive coordinator at Oklahoma 2000–2001 after Leach's departure; head coach at Kansas 2002–2009. *** Steve Spurrier Jr. – wide receivers coach at Oklahoma in 1999 under Leach and 2000–2001 under Mangino after Leach's departure; offensive assistant at Oklahoma under Riley in 2016; wide receivers coach at Washington State under Leach from 2018–2019; wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Mississippi State 2020–present. *** Art Briles – running backs coach at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000–2002; head coach at Houston 2003–2007 and Baylor 2008–2016. *** Ruffin McNeil – at Texas Tech under Leach as linebackers coach 2000–2006 and defensive coordinator 2007–2009; head coach at East Carolina 2010–2015. ***

Lincoln Riley Lincoln Michael Riley (born September 5, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of the USC Trojans football program at the University of Southern California. He previously served as the head coach ...

– wide receivers coach at Texas Tech from 2007–2009; offensive coordinator at East Carolina from 2010–2014; offensive coordinator from 2015–2017 at Oklahoma; head coach at Oklahoma from 2017–2021. Head coach at University of Southern California 2022–Present. ***

Sonny Cumbie Sonny Jack Cumbie (born August 8, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He is the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Cumbie previously served as the offensive coord ...

– co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech 2013; co-offensive coordinator at TCU from 2014–2016; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at TCU from 2017–2020; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas Tech from 2021–present. Played under Leach at Texas Tech. ***

Graham Harrell Graham Stanton Harrell (born May 22, 1985) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current offensive coordinator for the Purdue Boilermakers. He played college football at Texas Tech from 2004 to 2008. He played in the ...

– Offensive coordinator at Purdue University 2022-present; West Virginia University 2022; the University of Southern California 2019–2021;

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

from 2016–2019. Played under Leach at Texas Tech. ***

Seth Littrell James Seth Littrell (born July 24, 1978) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head coach of the North Texas Mean Green football team from 2016–2022. Early life Littrell was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and attended Musk ...

– running backs coach at Texas Tech under Leach from 2005–2008; head coach at North Texas from 2016–2022. ***

Greg McMackin Gregory James McMackin (born April 24, 1945) is a retired American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Oregon Institute of Technology from 1986 to 1989 and at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 2008 to 20 ...

– defensive coordinator at Texas Tech 2000–2002 under Leach; head coach at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

from 2008–2011. ***

Manny Matsakis Manny Matsakis (born Emmanouel M. Matsakis; April 16, 1962) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at Defiance College, a position he held from 2018 to 2021. Matsakis has also served as the h ...

– special teams coordinator at Texas Tech 2000–2002 under Leach; head coach at

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

in 2003. *** Clay McGuire – offensive line coach at the University of Southern California; played under Leach at Texas Tech. *** Eric Morris – inside wide receivers coach at Washington State 2012 under Leach; played under Leach at Texas Tech; offensive coordinator at Texas Tech 2013–2017 under Kingsbury. Head coach at Incarnate Word 2018-2021; offensive coordinator at Washington State 2022; head coach at North Texas 2022-present. *** Robert Anae – offensive line coach at Texas Tech 2000–2004 under Leach; offensive coordinator at BYU 2005–2010; OC at BYU 2013–2015; OC at Virginia 2016–2021; OC at Syracuse 2022, OC at NC State (December 2022-Present). ***

Josh Heupel Joshua Kenneth Heupel ( ; born March 22, 1978) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee. Previously he served as head coach at the University of Central Florida, where he compi ...

– played QB under Leach (1999) and Mangino (2000) at Oklahoma. Coached quarterbacks at Oklahoma from 2006–2009 before serving as Co-OC from 2010–2014 for Oklahoma. After that, OC at Utah State (2015) and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

(2016–2017) before becoming head coach at UCF (2018–2020) and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

(2021-present). ***

– quarterback at Texas Tech 1998–2002, under Leach 2000–2002; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Houston under Sumlin 2010–2011; offensive coordinator at Texas A&M under Sumlin in 2012; head coach at Texas Tech 2013–2018. Offensive Coordinator at the University of Southern California 2018 (1 month); Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals 2019–present. ****

Mike Jinks Michael Troy Jinks (born February 7, 1972) is an American football coach, currently the running backs coach for Houston Cougars football. Jinks served as the head football coach at Bowling Green State University from 2016 until midway through the ...

– running backs coach at Texas Tech 2013–2015 under Kingsbury; head coach at

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

2016–2018. *** ** Tony Franklin – running backs coach at Kentucky 1997–1999, under Leach in 1998; offensive coordinator at Kentucky in 2000; offensive coordinator at Troy in 2006, Auburn 2007–2008, Middle Tennessee 2009, Louisiana Tech 2010–2012, and OC at California 2013–2016. ** Chris Hatcher – quarterbacks and receivers coach at Kentucky under Mumme in 1999; head coach at Valdosta State 2000–2006, Georgia Southern 2007–2009, Murray State 2010–2014, and Samford 2015 present. **

– quarterbacks and wide receivers coach under Mumme at Valdosta State 1993–1995; at Texas Tech under Leach as wide receivers coach 2000–2006 and offensive coordinator in 2007; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Houston under Kevin Sumlin 2008–2009; offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State in 2010; head coach at West Virginia from 2011–2018; current head coach at the University of Houston. ***

Jake Spavital Jacob Stephen Spavital (born May 1, 1985) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the California Golden Bears. He previously served as the head football coach at Texas State University from 2019 to 2022. Coachi ...

– quarterbacks coach under Holgorsen West Virginia 2011–2013; QB coach/offensive coordinator under Sumlin at Texas A&M 2013–2015; and QB coach/offensive coordinator under Dykes 2016; QB coach/offensive coordinator under Holgorsen at West Virginia 2017–2018; and

head coach 2018–present. **

– wide receivers coach at Kentucky under Mumme in 1999 and Texas Tech under Leach 2000–2006; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arizona 2007–2009; head coach at Louisiana Tech 2010–2012; head coach at California 2013–2016; head coach at SMU 2018–2021; and head coach at TCU 2022-present. *

Mike Gundy Michael Ray Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University. Gundy played college football at Oklahoma State, where he played quarterback from 1986 to 1989. ...

– Head coach at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

(2005–present) **

Todd Monken Todd Robert Monken (born February 5, 1966) is an American football coach who currently serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Georgia. He is also the former offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns ...

– offensive coordinator under Gundy (2011–2012), former head coach at

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

(2013–2015). Current offensive coordinator at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(2020–present) * Matt Mumme – former head coach at LaGrange College (2013-2016) offensive coordinator at Nevada 2017–2021 *

– wide receivers coach at Purdue 1998–2000, offensive coordinator at Texas A&M 2001–2002 and Oklahoma 2006–2007; head coach at Houston 2008–2011, Texas A&M 2012–2017, and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

2018–2020. *

Phil Longo Phil Longo (born April 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator for the Wisconsin Badgers. A practitioner of the air raid offense, he was previously the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for No ...

– offensive coordinator at Wisconsin (2022-present)

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

(2019–2022), Ole Miss (2017–2018)

References

External links

Culture Crossfire Article covering History/Background of Air Raid Offense

Highlights of the air raid offense from Texas Tech's 2007 season

Highlights of the Mesh Route performed by Texas Tech and New Mexico State

The Shallow Cross Route
as performed by

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

in a game {{American football strategy American football strategy