When are we going to see the Air Raid?

[Seinfeld]

So we all know that Leach’s offense struggled last year, and plenty of plausible excuses like Covid, lack of practice, and an all-SEC schedule were thrown out.

Fast forward a year, and after starting the season with two non-SEC defenses, we are 80th in the country in total offense. Only two SEC teams(LSU and Vandy) are worse, and in spite of the O line looking a little better this past weekend, we ran for 22 yards.

It’s been fun watching Arnett do his thing, but the fact remains that we simply have to start moving the ball on offense or else there could be 7-8 Ls left on the schedule. What has to change in order for this offense to start moving?

 

[patdog]

I think we're seeing it.

 

[BlueRidgeMtns]

Rogers needs to see the field a little better. We have WRs getting open deep and some under routes that are open for big gains, and we either don't get them the ball or the pass doesn't hit them in stride.

 

[57stratdawg]

How is 2021 stacking up with Leach's prior years' pace of play? Seems like we're going pretty slow right now. Alot of times the offensive production numbers these days are driven by the # of plays teams are running more than anything else.

I'm fine with us having a slower pace of play if it keeps the defense fresh. I'm happy winning games in the low 20's if the D can make it standup.

 

[ronpolk]

Rogers needs to see the field a little better. We have WRs getting open deep and some under routes that are open for big gains, and we either don't get them the ball or the pass doesn't hit them in stride.

This….

After going to the game this weekend, I can verify we have receivers getting open in the holes of the zone defense. Rogers is not seeing that for whatever reason.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. Rogers has 2 more tune up games before A&M to get rolling. Ok, ok....one more.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

Leach' offense points per game in 8 years at WSU........20, 34, 32, 34, 38, 30, 37, 38 ppg.


at MSU........... 21, 30 (2 games) ppg.

 

[Smoked Toag]

Rogers needs to see the field a little better. We have WRs getting open deep and some under routes that are open for big gains, and we either don't get them the ball or the pass doesn't hit them in stride.

I think this is it, for better or for worse. Of course, I give him a break because he's a 2nd year player, and honestly he's the type of guy that probably shouldn't have started until he was a 3rd or 4th year player.

Just like KJ Costello's production directly led to an unsuccessful overall year last year, I think we are now seeing how big it was to lose Jack Abraham.

I try not to come down too hard on Rogers, due to this.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

Maybe next year. Starting what should be a rFr qb that would be sitting on the bench under normal circumstances is an issue. Will has enough talent and has plenty of intangibles to be successful in this offense, but again, he should be a rFr holding a clip board in an ideal world. Receivers and OL aren't the issue (as long as the ol plays like it did last week). We won't see what this offense is capable of until we have a seasoned, experienced qb playing for us. Any qb with less than 2 years in this system is going to struggle. It took Dak over 2 years and he is our standard of good qb play and he wasn't even supposed to play then. Will is 1.12yr's in the system with one full spring and offseason.

 

[Dawgg]

I know there are probably advanced stats that will blow a hole in what I'm about to post here, but I looked at Texas Tech's stats from 2008.

Graham Harrell 2008 stats:
512 Completions
713 Attempts
71.8% Completion
5,705 Total Pass Yards
8.0 Yards/Attempt
11.14 Yards/Completion

That's the Air Raid at the height of its powers.

Will Rogers 2021 stats thus far:
72 Completions
92 Attempts
75% Completion
664 Total Pass Yards
6.9 Yards/Attempt
9.2 Yards/Completion

So the first thing that sticks out to me is that Rogers is only 1 yard off from Graham Harrell's best season in yards/attempt and 2 yards off in yards/completion.

If we multiply Rogers current numbers by 6.5 and assume we'll see the same performance over the course of the season, we get:
468 Attempts
598 Completions
4,316 total pass yards

That would be the most prolific passing season in the history of Mississippi State. That's the Air Raid. I think people expect it to be 20 yard pass after 30 yard pass after 50 yard pass, but that's just not the case. It's a lot of dink and dunk to possibly set up a big throw downfield if it becomes available.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Rogers needs to see the field a little better. We have WRs getting open deep and some under routes that are open for big gains, and we either don't get them the ball or the pass doesn't hit them in stride.

There are other issues, but IMO this is number one by a significant margin.

It’s pretty impressive that Rogers has put up the numbers he has while still leaving a lot of production on the field.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Its not Air Coryell. Will does need to go deeper a few more times a game but if you watch they go to the left sideline, the next pass is to the right side. Its constantly from one side to the other running those linebackers ragged. Its not suppose to look like Joe Brady at LSU altho that was a beautiful thing. Will is close but he does need to improve a little. Leach says that he needs his eyes in the right place which means he is not seeing the best choice every play. He will improve obviously. He has only started like 8 or 9 games.

 

[o_Hot Rock]

So we all know that Leach’s offense struggled last year, and plenty of plausible excuses like Covid, lack of practice, and an all-SEC schedule were thrown out.

Fast forward a year, and after starting the season with two non-SEC defenses, we are 80th in the country in total offense. Only two SEC teams(LSU and Vandy) are worse, and in spite of the O line looking a little better this past weekend, we ran for 22 yards.

It’s been fun watching Arnett do his thing, but the fact remains that we simply have to start moving the ball on offense or else there could be 7-8 Ls left on the schedule. What has to change in order for this offense to start moving?

Leach does not play an up tempo offense. He is not trying to get 90 plays in a game to put up massive numbers. He is going for a more ball control offense that can move the ball and score quickly if needed or as the opportunity is presented.

Time of possession is not the key factor though, the clock stops a lot more in this offense than a more run heavy team will have. I think the number of 3 and outs and then red zone scoring will tell the story better. Right now, we are having way too many 3 and outs but that defense and special teams play is good enough for teams outside the top 25 to give us extra chances. We all know the offense has to keep getting better but I think they will. Rogers is a true soph thrown into playing earlier than he should have been. It's evident that even with 75% completion rate, he can put the ball in better places for Yards after the catch. I think by the end of this year you will see a different team and even some of the biggest doubters will start to change their spots.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Also if you look at the best year of the Air Raid as far as national rankings go, which finished the year #10, Gardner averaged 367 yards passing per game. And Will could have easily added another 75 yards a game with just a few adjustments. Its coming, albeit slowly but surely

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

When we play Ole Miss….

 

[TrapGame.sixpack]

Rogers needs to see the field a little better. We have WRs getting open deep and some under routes that are open for big gains, and we either don't get them the ball or the pass doesn't hit them in stride.

Bingo.

Middle of the 4th quarter Rogers had Polk wide *** open 30 yards down field but dumped it to Johnson for 1 yard. Looked like Leach crawled his *** about it when came back to the sideline.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Lord I hope so. They are ahead of us in my opinion right now. But Corral is experienced snd probly as good as he is gonna get. Will surely has not peaked and every game should be a step up. We need to beat them every year at every sport.

 

[fader2103]

The Air Raid Philosophy isn't a down the field passing ideology. It honestly is more of a West Coast/80s BYU style offense. They want to get the ball into the best athletes. You are seeing flashes with getting the ball to Tulu and Polk, but you have to have WRs that understand Zone vs Man, and finding open grass.

 

[philduckworth]

This is the Air Raid. It would be a fun offense to watch if anyone would every play man to man vs us again.

 

[maroonmania]

I think this is it, for better or for worse. Of course, I give him a break because he's a 2nd year player, and honestly he's the type of guy that probably shouldn't have started until he was a 3rd or 4th year player.

Just like KJ Costello's production directly led to an unsuccessful overall year last year, I think we are now seeing how big it was to lose Jack Abraham.

I try not to come down too hard on Rogers, due to this.

Did any of you ever stay up and actually watch Washington State games on Pac-12 after dark with Gardner Minshew or Anthony Gordon running the air raid? What we are currently doing looks very little like what they were doing. We may be running a dumbed down version of the Leach Air Raid, but our offense and the offense I watched when it was being run by experienced personnel at WSU looks very different. The main thing in common is that both have a high percentage of pass plays, but beyond that the plays themselves look very different. Our version of the air raid has a much higher percentage of dinking and dunking and the precision that we run our plays is not the same.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

If you compare Gardners avg yards to Wills you will see that is not a fact

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Exactly correct

 

[SheltonChoked]

This. It's 7 to 12 yards at a time, march down the field, then when the other team tries to mix it up with man to man, it looks like the LSU game last year.

To me the biggest miss in the game saturday was the 4th and 1. They lined up in a obvious man to man across the board. Will should have run one of the man to man beating plays (mesh is what i think was right) and hit one of the pick routes for a td.

I wish Will would stretch the field more and hit more of the 12-15 yard outs in the window, but I don't think he has the arm for that.

 

[8dog]

If we really wanted the ball in the hands of Tulu we sure dont act like it. Dillon Johnson got 12 touches. Tulu got 3- none from a fly sweep or wildcat. Hell put him at RB a few times and let him be the check down.

Between that and going slow we are just giving a gift to the defense.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

This is the Air Raid. It would be a fun offense to watch if anyone would every play man to man vs us again.

NC State played a ton of man to man on us. We just didn’t take advantage of it enough.

 

[natchezdawg]

We have!

 

[Dawgzilla]

I think this is it, for better or for worse. Of course, I give him a break because he's a 2nd year player, and honestly he's the type of guy that probably shouldn't have started until he was a 3rd or 4th year player.

Just like KJ Costello's production directly led to an unsuccessful overall year last year, I think we are now seeing how big it was to lose Jack Abraham.

I try not to come down too hard on Rogers, due to this.

Forgive me for being uninformed, but what is Abraham's actual status? I've been trying to find out since preseason.

 

[Drebin]

Forgive me for being uninformed, but what is Abraham's actual status? I've been trying to find out since preseason.

I've heard he's probably going to end up being a GA.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

Did any of you ever stay up and actually watch Washington State games on Pac-12 after dark with Gardner Minshew or Anthony Gordon running the air raid? What we are currently doing looks very little like what they were doing.

Youtube has videos, PAC in 60. You can watch WSU/Minshew games. In my opinion, EVERY THING offensively looks the exact same.

 

[patdog]

Appear his career is over due to multiple concussions. Last I saw was they were trying to get him a student assistant coaching position this fall (can't imagine why there'd be any problem with that though). Haven't heard if that came through or not.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

This offense will work better once our QB is able to see all of the field. He is dinking and dunking to the running backs when 3 seconds before, there was a wide open receiver beyond the first down marker. Will isn’t seeing this quickly enough and he’s not decisive enough. In time, this should improve. If it doesn’t, he won’t hold on to the starting job beyond 2022.