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

, the air raid offense is an offensive scheme popularized by such coaches as Earnest Wilson,

Hal Mumme Hal Clay Mumme (born March 29, 1952) is a former American football player, and current offensive analyst for the Sullivan East H.S Patriots football program. He most recently served as an offensive advisor for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL (20 ...

, Mike Leach, Sonny Dykes, and Tony Franklin during their respective tenures at Iowa Wesleyan University, Valdosta State,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

, Louisiana Tech, and

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. The system is designed out of a shotgun formation with four

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

s and one

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

. The formations often feature two outside receivers and two inside slot receivers. The offense also uses trips formations featuring three wide receivers on one side of the field and a single receiver on the other side.

History

The term "air raid offense" appeared in print at least as early as 1941 to describe the offense of the

Indiana Hoosiers football The Indiana Hoosiers football program represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers have played their home games at Memorial Stadium (Indiana), ...

team which was "long adept in filling the air with well-aimed passes" under coach

Bo McMillin Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-t ...

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

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

and

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1906, it launched in 1913 as an all-girls college. VSU is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System ...

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 University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

starting in 1997. There, head coach Hal Mumme and assistant coach Mike Leach helped turn quarterback

Tim Couch Timothy Scott Couch (born July 31, 1977) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He played college football for the ...

into a consensus All-American in 1998, and later a first overall NFL draft pick. Leach then served as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

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 List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

then Baylor), Sonny Dykes (first at Louisiana Tech, then at

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

), Ruffin McNeill at East Carolina, Dana Holgorsen at

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, and Kevin Sumlin (first at Houston, then

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

). Kliff Kingsbury (Mike Leach's first quarterback at Texas Tech) ran the offense as a coach as well. As of 2016, 7 out of the top 10 college leaders in career passing percentages—all above 68.6 percent—were Air Raid quarterbacks.

Air raid system

The scheme is notable for its focus on passing, as 65–75% of the offensive plays are passing plays. The quarterback has the freedom to change the play based on what the defensive team shows him at the line of scrimmage, using a vocal signal called an "

audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

". In at least one instance, as many as 90% of the run plays called in a season were chosen by an audible at the line of scrimmage. An important element in this offense is the offense does not

huddle In sport, a huddle is the action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategize, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulatio ...

, known as the

No-huddle offense The hurry-up offense is an American football offensive style, which has two different but related forms in which the offensive team avoids delays between plays. The hurry-up, no-huddle offense (HUNH) refers to avoiding or shortening the huddle t ...

. The offense gets to the line of scrimmage as soon as the previous play ends. The quarterback then diagnoses what the defense is showing, and starts the next play quickly. The quarterback is responsible for the audible play calls most of the time. The quick pace of the offense not only allows a team to come back if they are many points behind, but also tires out the defense and keep them off balance by limiting player substitutions. Another important aspect of the air raid offense is the positioning, or 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 one 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 ...

and defensive tackles to run further to reach the quarterback for a

sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...

. The quick, short passes offset any blitz that may come. Another advantage is that by forcing the defensive line to widen, it opens up wider than normal passing lanes for the quarterback to throw through, decreasing the chances of having the pass knocked down or intercepted. Fundamental air raid play concepts are designed to get the ball out of the quarterback's hand quickly, stretch the defense thinly across the field in all directions, and allow the quarterback to key on one defensive player who is forced to make a decision on which receiver to cover in his assigned area. Air raid plays are commonly designed to beat

zone coverage Zone defense is a type of defensive system, used in team sports, which is the alternative to man-to-man defense; instead of each player guarding a corresponding player on the other team, each defensive player is given an area (a zone) to cover. A ...

s, but they also work well against

man-to-man defense Man-to-man defense, or man defense, is a type of defensive system used in team sports such as American football, association football, basketball and netball, as in which each player is assigned to defend and follow the movements of a single play ...

s since an air raid offense often employs receivers with better than average speed which gives them an advantage in man-to-man coverage.

Coaches

– head coach at Valdosta State 1992–1996, Kentucky 1997–2000, Southeastern Louisiana 2003–2004,

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

2005–2008, McMurry 2009–2012, and Belhaven 2014–2017; offensive coordinator at SMU in 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 – 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 to 2019; wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Mississippi State 2020–2022 now is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tulsa 2023–present. *** Art Briles – running backs coach at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000 to 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 – wide receivers coach at Texas Tech from 2007 to 2009; offensive coordinator at East Carolina from 2010 to 2014; offensive coordinator from 2015 to 2017 at Oklahoma; head coach at Oklahoma from 2017 to 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 currently serves as the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Cumbie previously served as ...

– Played quarterback under Leach at Texas Tech, co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech 2013; co-offensive coordinator at TCU from 2014 to 2016; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at TCU from 2017 to 2020; offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and interim head coach at Texas Tech in 2021; head coach at Louisiana Tech from 2022–present. *** Graham Harrell – Offensive coordinator at Purdue University 2022–present; West Virginia University 2022; the University of Southern California 2019–2021;

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

from 2016 to 2019. Played under Leach at Texas Tech. *** Seth Littrell – running backs coach at Texas Tech under Leach from 2005 to 2008; head coach at North Texas from 2016 to 2022. *** Greg McMackin – defensive coordinator at Texas Tech 2000–2002 under Leach; head coach at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

from 2008 to 2011. ***

Manny Matsakis Emmanouel M. Matsakis (born April 16, 1962) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently head coach of the Ohio Valley Ironmen, a minor league football team. Matsakis has also served as the head football coach at Emporia St ...

– special teams coordinator at Texas Tech 2000–2002 under Leach; head coach at Texas State 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 – played QB under Leach (1999) and Mangino (2000) at Oklahoma. Coached quarterbacks at Oklahoma from 2006 to 2009 before serving as Co-OC from 2010 to 2014 for Oklahoma. After that, OC at Utah State (2015) and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

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

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

(2021–present). *** Kliff Kingsbury – 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 2019–2022. ****

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

– 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. ** Dana Holgorsen – 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 to 2018; current head coach at the University of Houston. *** Jake Spavital – 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 Texas State head coach 2018–2022. Returns for a second stint at California to be the OC and QB coach 2023-2024; Now is the offensive coordinator at Baylor University 2024–present Sonny Dykes – 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 – Head coach at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

(2005–present) ** Todd Monken – offensive coordinator under Gundy (2011–2012), head coach at Southern Miss (2013–2015), offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

(2020–2022). Current offensive coordinator for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

(2023-present) * Matt Mumme – head coach at LaGrange College (2013–2016), offensive coordinator at Nevada 2017–2021 * Kevin Sumlin – 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 is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

2018–2020. * Phil Longo – head coach at Sam Houston State (Present), offensive coordinator at

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

(2022–2024),

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

(2019–2022),

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

(2017–2018), offensive coordinator & QB Coach at Sam Houston State (2014 -2016).

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 (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

in a game {{American football strategy American football strategy