The "Air Raid" concept evolved and was popularized by Hal Mumme and Mike Leach in the late-‘90's while both were at Valdosta State and Kentucky. West Virginia's coach Dana Holgorsen was a quarterback's coach at Valdosta State in the early ‘90's under both Mumme and Leach then worked under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-2007. Holgorsen utilizes an evolved version of the "traditional Air Raid" that mixes in more standard running plays than Leach's standard offense.

In case you are curious, various sites have previewed West Virginia's offense and Airraid concepts. Here is a preview of WVU from an LSU perspective. Also, Smart Football (follow the link and/or review the Q&A we had with CB), the Mumme playbook over at Bruceeien.com, and Trojan Football Analysis.

Air Raid was designed as a hybrid Run and Shoot/West Coast offense. The chief concept being to create "space" by splitting linemen wider and WRs further in their routes, with a very small number of plays that are repped endlessly. Air Raid offenses rely heavily on the pass game with strategically designed routes and combination routes to mitigate the lack of a "traditional" running game. The typical formation resembles a spread ace look with the QB taking a direct snap from the shotgun. Trips formations as well as motion in and out of the backfield are also common to this offense; however the four wide, single back looks are a staple.

Another item you will notice is the size of the offensive line splits. Air Raid coaches typically like to get larger splits to push the defensive linemen further outside than normal. Remember that DL line themselves up based on the OL; a 3-technique is on the outside shoulder of the Guard no matter how far the Guard is from the Center. DEs must come to the QB from further away, giving the QB another half second. These larger splits create bigger bubbles in your front, and more spacing between LBs as well since they align the same way.

Quarterback play is critical for such an attack. Like a typical Run and Shoot attack, the QB is expected to read the opposing defense and potentially audible at the LOS. There are some read and react routes like the R&S though a large portion of the attack features quick anticipation routes common to West-Coast attacks. The routes are not particularly complex and, since there is less read and react, the onus is placed on the signal caller and/or coaches to get the team into the correct play based on the defense they face and execute once the ball is snapped.

Air Raid teams like to attack the perimeter with short passing routes in lieu of a traditional rushing attack. These squads also like to execute well planned routes on three different levels, commonly incorporating short/intermediate crossing routes to pick/rub linebackers and create relatively easy pitch and catch opportunities. You will frequently see the Mesh combo route, triangle concepts, as well as crossing mesh patters with small wrinkles thrown in to counter looks that defenses show.

Holgorsen's offense is a morph of the original Mumme/Leach attack. West Virginia runs the football more than stereotypical Air Raid teams. While they always operate using a direct snap, the Mountaineers will put two and three backs in the backfield at a time. Favorite formations with two and three backs are the diamond (inverted wishbone) and what I'll refer to as the half diamond. We talked a little about the inverted bone this past summer and, if you missed out, here are the links: Introduction then More Examples.

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Sammy Watkins had a huge 65 yard touchdown catch on 3^rd and 6 to put Clemson ahead for good against the Auburn Tigers last weekend.  The concept behind this play is fairly simple yet effective and is commonly referred to as the 3-man snag.  This route combination provides an answer for most anything a defense throws at it.

First, we’ll show the play, then get into the basic concept of the snag, then apply these concepts to the Watkins TD.

Sammy Watkins goes 65 Yards for the Go Ahead TD:

This concept is, in its most common form from this formation, shown below:

The quarterback progression is pretty simple: 1. Back flair, 2. SE hitch/curl, 3. Slot corner.  This is a very good play to run against zone defenses but is also effective against man if your receivers run good routes.  The Tigers had success on the hitch/curl against both and here are two basic and simple rules for this role:  1) against man, the rule is to push your man and make tight, clean cuts and 2) against zone, the receiver has more latitude and will seek then sit into soft spots in the zone, usually between 5 and 7 yards off the LOS.  Again, very straight forward.

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We spent a large portion of the summer previewing the Chad Morris offense.  For ease of access, we're providing links to these articles below (after the jump).  We've also linked a synopsis on "3-4" looks that covers "3-4" basics and critical concepts pertaining to even and odd fronts.  I highly encourage you to brush up on these items because they are the core concepts Clemson will feature this season.

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We wanted to do one post to fit together some of the run game concepts and show how the success of the zone read, if its the staple play in the system, feeds the success of the entire running game. The overarching concept here is to cause confusion and conflict the DE, particularly if he's impossible to block. If we can instead get inside his head and make him think on every down, he'll have no other reaction except to slow himself. One could say that the plays below set up the zone read itself, but given that the block scheme for the read option is just a simple inside zone, we'll take the perspective that the zone read sets up the others.

The zone read option is nothing more than an inside zone play with a QB option to keep the ball. The OL zone blocks as if the ball was going up the A-gap on an inside zone, but the OT on the backside goes to his inside gap and combo blocks the 3-technique, or heads to the next level to hit the LB, depending on whether you run the play to the NG or the 3-tech's side. This leaves the DE unblocked on the backside of the zone, and the QB reads him: if the DE comes down to take the RB, the QB keeps it; if the DE stays home the QB gives the ball to the RB.

The Morris/Malzahn/Chip Kelly systems all add a backside bubble screen to make it a double-option play, but this really doesn't have anything to do with the DE.

Now what else do I want to throw at that DE to get inside his head? What if he has a tip on the read option and plays it right, or the opposing DC has instructed him to always go for the QB? We can use that against him with a Trap.

Now when he always charges towards the QB, he won't be expecting to get earholed by the Guard from the other side. The Guard can kick him out or log block, and he won't be in position to stop the RB.

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There are a few route patterns that are in the scheme that we have deliberately not covered until we get some tape for analysis and during game week we'll be doing scheme posts on an ad hoc basis when time permits. However I thought we needed to cover some simple patterns that are easy completions and don't require tape to explain. One will be this post, and another on the screen packages and their differences.

The "stick" is a pattern where we send a back to the flats on a simple shoot/arrow or bubble route, while an inside slot receiver runs a hook at about 6 yards depth. The idea is to put the defender in the flat zone area in a pickle so he'll have to pick one and give up the other, and the QB takes the easy completion. The pattern is not mirrored on both sides of the formation; its primarily a strongside pass pattern.

Stick pattern vs a Cover 3 set. Against C2, the read defender would likely be the SAM.

This is a simple one-read play when they play zone defense. The QB looks for the defender over the #2 receiver strongside, in this case the 5-man. If the defender comes down to attack the RB, the QB immediately hits the 5. Against a C3 zone the SS would be on the flat zone, but versus C2 it would be the CB. Obviously the CB is in a better position to attack the flat route of the RB, so we need to put him in more of a bind too. The best way to do that is to send the outside receiver deep, which will force the CB to sink with him. The best choice in the case of C2 would be to send the 2-man on a Post route.

Stick pattern vs a C2 set.

The only time the Post should be thrown, however, is if the Safety comes down to take away the Hook route.

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One thing we noticed in the film study of Tulsa from Morris' time there last year was the prevalence of vertical routes. On nearly every pass play, the routes he uses are meant to put pressure on the defense vertically. Most of the time, at least one or two players are headed deep. Four verticals is a very simple play that can be lethal to a defense, and I have seen him call it 2 to 4 times per game. If anything, it lets the defense know that you're going to push them deep and keeps them from jumping quick passes, even if its not successful at getting a long play.

The QB's first thought on this series of plays is to find the FS and discern the coverage. If there isnt a FS in the middle, as in Cover 2, then he'll look to the safety on the hash strongside. Once he finds the FS, he will want to try to influence him to move left or right by locking his eyes on a receiver, with the intention of throwing to someone else. If you can't get the safety to bite this way, then the object is to dump it off to the easiest throw or throw open the receiver with better leverage on the safety.

4 Verticals against a MOFC defense

So in the above 4 verts, against either a C1 or C3 defense, he'll be looking at the 5 with the intention of throwing the ball to the 3-back, or vice versa. If he can't influence the safety to jump one way or the other, he is supposed to dump it off to the 4. His read progression otherwise is inside-outside-back on the strongside, so 5-2-4.

The receivers outside are running Go-read routes. They are going deep initially, but then they can make a judgement call on whether they believe they can beat their man deep. They break and hook at 15 yards depth if they cannot, but must sell the Go route first. The inside receivers are running seam-reads, so they head up the seam and put pressure on the safety to bite. If there is a safety on the seam, as in Cover 2, they hook at 12-15 yards.

Trips set verticals

From Trips, the inside receiver needs to break on a post or slant to draw the safety down/across from the seam route. The back could run his arrow/shoot to the opposite side.

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Over the last month we've highlighted the running game in this offense along with the quick passing game, and now for the next month we are going to do some dropback stuff from spread formations that are in this offense. For ease, I'll continue using mostly 2x2 formations. This should carry on until the season starts. We'll do extra as game film becomes available this season.

In the quick game I highlighted the reason why these offenses tend to be called "one read" systems. The QB knows he must get rid of the ball quickly in those plays and his read becomes pretty basic. Usually he need only read the defender on the slot receiver to pick the side he'll look at post-snap. I hinted at some of the complexity in reading coverages for more downfield passing situations as well, but as to not confuse you too much I'm leaving as much of that out as possible for the rest of this series. Sometimes his read changes depending on the patterns run on the play, so it would be useful to refresh your memory of concepts.

Dropback passing from under center usually consists of 5 to 7 step drop plays. The longer the drop, the more time is allowed for deep routes to develop. In the Gun, the drop can be 3 to 5. Usually the QB's read progression is either deep-to-short or from outside-in on the receivers to each side.

A Curl route is a deeper route used by TEs to attack LBs in any coverage and by outside WRs to attack Man and C3 coverage best. Its paired with an underneath route to create a vertical stretch of the coverage, so if the Curl is 10-15 yards, you would run an Arrow or Drag route or an Under route along with it at 5-7 yards.

Curls drawn with an Arrow to weak, a drag and then late release from the back on the strong.

In this play, the QB reads the defender on #3 WR from the outside-in. However, the numbering changes as the routes develop and cross each other. Initially, the 4-back (fullback) is the #3 WR strong, but once the 5-man crosses over the middle, he becomes the #3, and the 4-back becomes the #2 WR. This is how defenses account for crisscrossing WRs as well (e.g., the SAM has the #2 here, but the MLB knows he always has the #3 receiver, so the SAM passes off the 5-man to the MIKE).

The QB here is reading the MLB to see if he walls-off the drag route. If he's moving down to wall off the drag, then the QB looks to the defender on #2 (the fullback). In the play above, if SAM comes down to cover the releasing fullback on a swing route, then the QB has a straight shot to the curl route. If the SAM drops at an angle to get underneath the curl, the QB throws to the FB.

If the MLB doesnt move to wall-off the drag, he's either making a drop to a Hook/Curl zone or is taking the FB in man coverage.  If the MLB acts like its man, he'll come down on the FB immediately, so the QB waits and the drag should come open when he clears the spot. In zone, the QB quickly makes his progression read from the outside in or deep-to-short.

The WRs must read the coverage as it develops too. The #1 cuts to a post route at 7-8 yards and at 12-15 yards comes back on the curl. If he reads zone, his eyes pick up the #2 defender, the SAM or WILL. He wants to read how he drops into the zone underneath the curl route. If he drops for depth, you curl a little tighter. If he drops wider, the curl turns inside more. (Technically, the defender is supposed to drop at 45 degrees, but only good ones do that quite right). The #2 receiver strong runs his drag and stops against zone coverage in a hole, otherwise he just keeps running. This carries the outside-in progression read to the other side.

It seems complicated at first glance, but when you realize that he only has a couple of things to look at you'll see that its not as complicated as some make it out to be. He reads the safeties to see 1 or 2 high, rolls his eyes to the CBs to see how theyre lined up, then to the defender on the slot if he can't discern man or zone from the Corner alignment. After that, he looks (on this play) to the defender on the 3rd strongside receiver.

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This is the last of the series on quick passing before we go on to some more dropback stuff that we hope to finish before the season kicks off. I want to make it clear that even though I have mostly used our 2x2 regular sets to diagram these plays up, because it lets you see how mirrored quick routes work, that this offense is not all one-back sets. The offense uses all the formations I highlighted in the first post of the series here, and it is mostly run-run-play-action. Highlighting the quick passing game the way I have is just the simplest way to show everyone how it works, and how simple teaching an offense is. Its not rocket science.

We talked about how the QB begins reading coverages and how the offense adjusts the alignment based on the coverage here, so now what do you do against teams that play multiple coverages and can disguise them well?  Lets say for example that you face a team like FSU, that plays mostly Cover 3 zone defense with a little mix of Man coverage. UNC wouldn't be all that dissimilar. Both teams would show a lot of 1 High coverage, but you can't tell directly from that whether its Cover 1 or Cover 3. If they can hide it well, what do you do? You design plays that have a C1 beater on one side, and a C3 beater on the other side. That way, once the ball is snapped and the QB can read the defensive coverage, he'll know which side to look first.

Now we break the mirrored setup and start mix & matching the patterns that we highlighted in the previous posts on the quick game, taking the best coverage beaters and combining them. A good bet would be to flood the underneath zone on one side and a crossing route on the other side. That way, if they're in C3 you throw one way, and if its Man, you hit the crossing routes.

An All-hitch play works against Cover 3 or Cover 4 because it puts alot of short routes against a coverage that is there to prevent big deep plays.

 
And the quick Out and quick In are crossing routes that are used to beat Man under coverage teams.

 So just put them together like so:

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