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North Texas riding Air Raid into Kinnick Stadium


Harry

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IOWA CITY — For a little more than 20 years, what we all know now as the Air Raid offense has graced college football with its wide open, gun-slinging fun. Well, everywhere except the Big Ten, that is.

College football’s unattached fans have, in large part, Mike Leach to thank for that. As an assistant at Kentucky, then predominantly at Oklahoma, the offense took hold. His years at Texas Tech made it a household name.

Along the way, former players and assistants who worked for him caught the bug. One of those guys? North Texas head coach Seth Littrell, who brings his Mean Green football team to Kinnick Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. date Saturday with Iowa (ESPN2). Quarterback Mason Fine pilots the offense for North Texas now and the style with which he and the offense play offers the same challenges the Hawkeyes saw against Iowa State — and struggled with, at times.

An Air Raid attack can either shrink the gap between mid-major and Power 5 conferences, or it can exacerbate it. Littrell is well aware of that.

“Depending on who you’re playing, what your opponents’ strengths and weaknesses are, it can help,” Littrell said. “But it can also hurt you. It’s wide open. You’re getting after it. You’re playing fast. But if you’re playing against a good defense and not getting first downs, it doesn’t help you because your defense is on the field.”

read more:  http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/college/football/north-texas-riding-air-raid-into-kinnick-stadium-20170914

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5 hours ago, greenminer said:

I thought this scheme could be traced to Hal Mumme.  Perhaps someone here can elaborate on the relationship between him and Leach and how the Air Raid came about.

I think I got shut down on this theory on /cfb once, but I always traced its origins back to Don Coryell and friends.  Apparently I'm wrong because something something they weren't open enough or used running backs or occasionally took snaps under center or something. 

 

Quote

It was at SDSU that Coryell began to emphasize a passing offense. Coryell recounted, "We could only recruit a limited number of runners and linemen against schools like USC and UCLA. And there were a lot of kids in Southern California passing and catching the ball. There seemed to be a deeper supply of quarterbacks and receivers. And the passing game was also open to some new ideas.[5]" Coryell adds, "Finally we decided it's crazy that we can win games by throwing the ball without the best personnel. So we threw the hell out of the ball and won some games. When we started doing that, we were like 55–5–1.

 

6 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

"Head Coach" Seth Littrell everybody:

AR-170919751.jpg&MaxH=500&MaxW=798

A) That's not actually Litrrell, is it?  If so, somebody needs a refund on their camera.

B)  Whoever is the purchaser of coach pants needs to find another line of work.  

Edited by oldguystudent
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5 hours ago, greenminer said:

I thought this scheme could be traced to Hal Mumme.  Perhaps someone here can elaborate on the relationship between him and Leach and how the Air Raid came about.

Hal Mumme and Mike Leach adapted LaVell Edwards' BYU playbook for high school and small college players with more shotgun and more passing.

Great read, but it is long af: http://smartfootball.com/offense/the-air-raid-offense-history-evolution-weirdness-from-mumme-to-leach-to-franklin-to-holgorsen-and-beyond#sthash.Wk0HGPgO.dpbs

17 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

I think I got shut down on this theory on /cfb once, but I always traced its origins back to Don Coryell and friends.  Apparently I'm wrong because something something they weren't open enough or used running backs or occasionally took snaps under center or something. 

So the Air Coryell *and* the Air Raid can trace both its roots to Sid Gillman's passing concepts. He spread the defenses out vertically and horizontally.

Air Coryell depends on a strong inside run, and then they pass deep to short. Air Raid primarily passes short to deep.

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51 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

I think I got shut down on this theory on /cfb once, but I always traced its origins back to Don Coryell and friends.  Apparently I'm wrong because something something they weren't open enough or used running backs or occasionally took snaps under center or something. 

 

 

A) That's not actually Litrrell, is it?  If so, somebody needs a refund on their camera.

 

You guys...it's Mike Ekeler.  

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