Football nerd stuff. If you get a chance, watch Mississippi State play a couple of games

[ilovetheoption]

I had long heard Paul Johnson talk about how much the Air Raid was like the Triple Option, and for my own team, I've cribbed some Air Raid concepts in the pass game, but I'd never really dug into the Air Raid as a whole offense until this year.

Johnson's not wrong.

Like, x's and o's, it couldn't me more different, but conceptually, it he's not wrong. They're more alike than you think.

They do relatively few things, they just do them really well, and above all else they're ball control offenses, trying to manage the sticks with a baseline thing that they'll just do 100 times in a row (with a smile) if you don't defend it.

ONLY WHEN you defend the basics will they go to their counters to your counters, and your counters to their counters leave you vulnerable to the baseline thing, and they just circle around over and over and over, confident that the few plays that they have have enough wrinkles in them that you can't be right, and the QB just has to read it right and make the right choice.

It's a beautiful offense to watch, if you don't wed yourself to what football "should" be like, and just allow yourself to see the system, and the patterns, and let it settle on your brain.

Look at this: https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/705

It's VERY few concepts, that have choices, and you have certain choices of how to defend it, and if you chose one, another of their few concepts is the answer to that. Like, stick=the dive. If you don't defend stick, they'll just run stick over and over and over again all the way down the field.

They rep their 6 concepts over and over and over and over again, until they can just execute it, and that 6 yard throw is the same thing as a handoff to them.

Different skills, different bodies, different concepts, but underneath it is "we reduce the number of things we ask our guys to do to a VERY streamlined set of actions, and because of that, we don't need to recruit guys who can do EVERYTHING, just guys who can do THOSE things very well, and because of that we don't have to recruit the same guys everybody else does, and guys can outperform their recruiting rankings".

I feel like that should seem very familiar to you guys.

 

[ilovetheoption]

Even the numbers, underneath it. They run the hell out of the ball, it's just that they don't run it.

Their RB swing pass is EXACTLY the same play as rocket toss, it's just a different play. It's just a forward pass instead of a backwards pass but it's to the same spot on the field, the only difference is the QB's launch point

If you combine their touches, their RB's (think of them as B-backs) get 28 touches and 138 yards a game, all underneath

 

[Fatmike91]

Good observations.

I believe we should have gone air raid after CPJ. I would have started with CPJ's playbook/play calling from Hawaii (which was largely pass oriented) and evolved toward a modern air-raid.

No seven year transition needed.

But...I didn't get a vote.

/

 

[SteamWhistle]

I think the perfect Offensive Scheme for Tech currently would be Veer/Midline Option Pistol Playbook with multiple TE sets similar to what the Baltimore Ravens are running right now.

 

[SteamWhistle]

 

[IM79]

Love this Mike Leach post-game presser:

 

[TruckStick]

Veer and Shoot and Air Raid. Perfect for us.

 

[jgtengineer]

I think the perfect Offensive Scheme for Tech currently would be Veer/Midline Option Pistol Playbook with multiple TE sets similar to what the Baltimore Ravens are running right now.

Theres some irony there in that they brought CPJ in to help them NFLize the blocking schemes for option.

 

[JasonJ]

Paul Johnson learned it from the best. June Jones.

 

[LongforDodd]

Theres some irony there in that they brought CPJ in to help them NFLize the blocking schemes for option.

Do they still use those blocking schemes?

 

[forensicbuzz]

Paul Johnson learned it from the best. June Jones.

Who taught who? Those two together in a room would have been a whole bunch of fun to listen to the conversation (and then have them explain it to the layperson in terms we could understand).

 

[jgtengineer]

Do they still use those blocking schemes?

Yep obviously in thr nfl they frown on cut blocks in general for contract reasons so johnson had to help them figure out how to translate power and gap schemes that would work that's what they brought himnup there to do. Also meet with lamar on mesh read concepts

 

[LibertyTurns]

@ilovetheoption Thanks for painting a picture a lot of us have been saying the past 3 years. You presented another transition option we disregarded for the offensive scheme (if there really was one) we ultimately chose. We chose poorly and continue to pay for it. Now we seemingly have no expertise in anything.

There were many ways to not jump off the cliff without a parachute. It was just a lack of experience coupled with extreme hubris. The strategy to get righted is now a bit more complex, but with proper leadership maybe we can recover in 2 years. We’ve been in worse holes before than CGC has gotten us in here. It’s just a matter of time before we make a good choice & we’ll all be happy for it.

 

[ilovetheoption]

So, to clarify, I'm not advocating for the Air Raid, nor am I saying GT should have chosen an air raid coach.

I was just saying it's a fun, interesting watch that you guys could probably appreciate more than most fanbases, because the idea behind it is similar to the idea behind an offense you ran for a decade.

They LOOK nothing alike, ,but it's akin to whales being related to deer.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Good observations.

I believe we should have gone air raid after CPJ. I would have started with CPJ's playbook/play calling from Hawaii (which was largely pass oriented) and evolved toward a modern air-raid.

No seven year transition needed.

But...I didn't get a vote.

/

I wanted Leach, myself, but it would have been a heck of a transition, too. Possibly tougher than what we are attempting now.

 

[Spalding Jacket]

Yep both are similar in that they are system offenses. Both want to run a particular play ( air raid: shallow cross, spread option: triple option) until the defense over compensates to stop it, then they pull out the compliment plays to make the defense pay. Much like a fastball pitcher and his change up. Both have just enough plays to attack every part of the field. Dana Holgerson bragged he could install his offense in 3 days. Play calling is fun for both, as you can always make the defense wrong. Air raid mostly allows QB to make audibles while CPJ was just a master playcaller and more often than not predicted what the opposing D would do.Link below is a if/ then playcall sheet on how CPJ would call plays. Of course he would change up his blocking schemes to make opposing defensive players heads spin (ala Kam Chancellor)

https://html.scribdassets.com/64zs12iz9c1jg8fo/images/1-be81a1ae91.jpg

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

One thing the new staff could have done is brought in the option package out of the gun and a short air raid attack until they got their guys in the system. Tobias could have been our Tim Tebow until he got his QB ready.

 

[HurricaneJacket]

Thanks for the breakdown ilovetheoption

 

[Sheboygan]

Good observations.

I believe we should have gone air raid after CPJ. I would have started with CPJ's playbook/play calling from Hawaii (which was largely pass oriented) and evolved toward a modern air-raid.

No seven year transition needed.

But...I didn't get a vote.

/

I made this point on another post. I didn't have to be a 7 year rebuild, but more like a transition over time. CGC/P'naude probably never even thought of it. Use the talent/skills you had on hand year one more effectively. Tobias Oliver at QB could have run it , IMO.

 

[4shotB]

There are quite a few MSU Bulldogs at my golf club and I golf with several of them. Most my age and above. I find it interesting that some don't seem to embrace him simply because he doesn't look or sound like what a football coach should look or sound like to them. Although they struggle to articulate this exactly, i think anyone who is not a clone of Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes or Vince Lombardi (or the ilk) would not suit these guys.

Personally, I like the guy and I don't even know how he is doing in Starkville. Outside of Steve Spurrier (and maybe Pepper R), he consistently delivers the best media interviews of any FB coach I have seen. I loved his take on impatient fans.