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The Air Raid and the Longhorns

Disco Missile

By Disco Missile
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Disco Missile

Disco Missile 456

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Since the game I had a lot of conversations with friends and family around the country - same as you guys I imagine.

One question keeps coming up, and it's not a new one: how and why do the Longhorns struggle on offense?
The thinking is that Texas HS FB is some of the best in the country, producing NFL-caliber offensive talent year after year.
Naturally UT is the big boy in Texas so why do schools like OU, TTU, Houston, Baylor, TCU, aTm, and others keep getting all of our talent? Why do those schools have explosive offenses year after year while Texas languishes in mediocrity? TTU and Houston have almost a mile of combined offense, one with a freshman QB, while Texas has a sub-50% completion rate?

I don't have the answer. 

But a good friend of mine (an alum and an Ex) pointed out that we're the one school that has never had a coach from the Mike Leach tree or associated with the Air Raid offensive style ubiquitous in Texas HS FB. And that's true.

OU has cycled through tons of Air Raid guys. Tech was built on it. aTm bought in. Briles *spit* was an innovator at Baylor.

Why not Texas?

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Air Raid isn't necessarily built on 5 and 4 star recruits.

 

Sure more talent is better, but there aren't a shit-ton of guys on Tech's roster that UT would even want, right?

 

Jack Anderson maybe?

 

Y'all damned near get the QB you want each recruiting season.  Through the years, some of the best Air Raid QBs have been guys that weren't big name recruits.

Edited by slorch
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tantric superman

tantric superman 4667

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3 minutes ago, Disco Missile said:

Since the game I had a lot of conversations with friends and family around the country - same as you guys I imagine.

Nope.  My wife was watching Shakespeare in Love upstairs while I watched the game downstairs.  Just FYI.

(I will speak of it on Tuesday with the office accountant (Tex grad) when I get back to the office.)

Edited by tantric superman
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EastTexan

EastTexan 662

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Just now, slorch said:

Air Raid isn't necessarily built on 5 and 4 star recruits.

 

Sure more talent is better, but there aren't a shit-ton of guys on Tech's roster that UT would even want, right?

 

Jack Anderson maybe?

Yea, but TCU has a few. They looked pretty damn swift last night.

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Vertigo

Vertigo 20267

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We have never been the same once Mack tried to go back to a pro style system. I am not a particular fan of the current system but it can be very good when run well. The reason Stoops and Patterson have owned us for over a decade is that they embraced the air raid style with a power running component combined with great defense.  Its a simple formula and we keep overthinking it.

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Treefidy

Treefidy 1463

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3 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

We have never been the same once Mack tried to go back to a pro style system. I am not a particular fan of the current system but it can be very good when run well. The reason Stoops and Patterson have owned us for over a decade is that they embraced the air raid style with a power running component combined with great defense.  Its a simple formula and we keep overthinking it.

This is true, and look at what Bama is doing now.  1st play of the game was 5 wide, empty backfield.  

A lot of the air raid teams have limited recruiting prowess and aren't generally able to recruit both sides of the ball at a high level. 

We should be doing what TCU and OU are doing, but better. 

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Disco Missile

Disco Missile 456

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26 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

We have never been the same once Mack tried to go back to a pro style system. I am not a particular fan of the current system but it can be very good when run well. The reason Stoops and Patterson have owned us for over a decade is that they embraced the air raid style with a power running component combined with great defense.  Its a simple formula and we keep overthinking it.

Agree.

10 minutes ago, Treefidy said:

This is true, and look at what Bama is doing now.  1st play of the game was 5 wide, empty backfield.  

A lot of the air raid teams have limited recruiting prowess and aren't generally able to recruit both sides of the ball at a high level. 

We should be doing what TCU and OU are doing, but better. 

Alabama seems to be able to tweak their offense based on personnel. Is that legal?
They're also anchored by great defenses so there's that.

OU and TCU have similar (less effective) systems with Bob and Patterson providing the defense and Air Raid OCs providing the offense.

Aranda one of the few big name DCs to come out of that system, and doing well at LSU

Edited by Disco Missile
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Disco Missile

Disco Missile 456

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24 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Briles was not air raid. The veer and shoot is primarily a run first, everybody go deep, play action pass and RPO offense. Air Raid is far more dink & dunk.

He coached under Leach for a few years at Tech. He wasn't Air Raid, but he used that system to make his own

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Disco Missile

Disco Missile 456

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26 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

He invented the veer & shoot while he was a high school coach. He didn't learn it from Leach, and he didn't modify it because of Leach.

I'm ignorant of the veer & shoot aside from what was written about Mattox and Gilbert, but most sources I reference put Briles in the Leach coaching tree. If nothing else that's where he got his college start.
In any event Briles isn't around anymore and his own coaching tree is pretty small, however Babers at Syracuse is more Air Raid.

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Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8052

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In terms of skill position guys, I think for some time we were caught up in “pro potential,” as indicated by prospect stars and rankings. The top guys might look good on paper, but assembling such a class doesn’t seem to be a true gauge of Big 12 success. Many of the offensive players who’ve been productive in our league were too short/light/slow/weak to be highly rated, but they could play football and weren’t divas. Apparently all that matters. 

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ousux

ousux 5587

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Question, how many Mike Leach tree coaches have won a natty or even had consistent, sustained success? I know one of the "architects" of the system languished for many years at 3rd rate schools and will probably retire with that being his only claim to fame. (Hal Mumme)

Not saying the air raid doesn't put up tons of yards and points, just sayin..

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BluTechsan

BluTechsan 393

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1 hour ago, ousux said:

Question, how many Mike Leach tree coaches have won a natty or even had consistent, sustained success? I know one of the "architects" of the system languished for many years at 3rd rate schools and will probably retire with that being his only claim to fame. (Hal Mumme)

Not saying the air raid doesn't put up tons of yards and points, just sayin..

Lincoln Riley

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Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8052

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1 hour ago, El Hornarino said:

Offensive line recruiting and development was bad for a long time.  If Colt didn't mask the issues, the wheels would have fallen off a few years earlier.

Colt being able to read the D and throw a strike within two seconds of the snap made a lot of burnt orange traffic cones look like blockers. 

Edited by Gut Wagon
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Blanton

Blanton 170

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30 minutes ago, ousux said:
37 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:
Colt being able to read the D and throw a strike within two seconds of the snap made a lot of burnt orange traffic cones look like blockers. 

This is true, they got exposed a bit in the Big12 CCG against corn with Suh...then Bama.

No, our offensive line in 2009 was solid in pass protection and god-awful in run-blocking.

"Exposed" is going out on a limb considering Suh should've won the Heisman over Ingram (second to Colt, obviously). Hell, they held up pretty decently in the national championship game going up against probably the best front 7 in the nation.  

That run we had in 2009 could go down as one of the best examples of playing beyond your potential. 

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2 hours ago, ousux said:
2 hours ago, BluTechsan said:
Lincoln Riley

If he wins a championship he'll be the first. Not bagging on the air raid, just not convinced it's the bees knees..

It is a great equalizer for schools who cannot recruit on equal footing.

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11 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Has air raid won a conference title anywhere?

 

Has Leach had the most talent on the field versus the OU's, UT's, Oregons, or USCs he faced?

 

Not even close...

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ousux

ousux 5587

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No, our offensive line in 2009 was solid in pass protection and god-awful in run-blocking.
"Exposed" is going out on a limb considering Suh should've won the Heisman over Ingram (second to Colt, obviously). Hell, they held up pretty decently in the national championship game going up against probably the best front 7 in the nation.  
That run we had in 2009 could go down as one of the best examples of playing beyond your potential. 
They were good, and better than anything we've had since, but Colt didn't hang around in the pocket very long...making them look better than they really were.
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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 14969

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Saban claimed he didn’t want to run the air raid because it didn’t have a strong enough running game. That used to be true, but no longer. OU can run the ball. Saban also didn’t have access to coaches familiar with the Air Raid when he said that because at the time you only had Leach and one or two other guys who knew the scheme.

Now you have about 20 coaches who know it. Saban is slowly starting to adopt elements of it, but I don’t know if he’s doing things like route trees.

In my opinion we have to adopt it or we will lose 1-2 games per years just due to turnovers and freak events. Air raid offenses can overcome that a lot of times. You combine that offense with top talent and you can win. OU is proving it. They may haven’t won a title recently but they are close. They should have beaten Georgia.

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3 hours ago, ousux said:
3 hours ago, Gut Wagon said:
Colt being able to read the D and throw a strike within two seconds of the snap made a lot of burnt orange traffic cones look like blockers. 

This is true, they got exposed a bit in the Big12 CCG against corn with Suh...then Bama.

They were exposed all year. And in ‘07. ‘08 we had a competent line but not good. We haven’t had a good OL since ‘06. 

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El Squared

El Squared 1793

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6 hours ago, hookem48 said:

Give me Bama's Oline every year and I'll run whatever the fuck offense I want and I'll run it down your throat

The inconvenient and basic truth, but everyone keeps searching for other rationalizations.

Outside  of freak talent acquisitions, like VY, I think Bama has proved this point over and over.

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