Mississippi State Football: The Air Raid Offense Needs To Take Off Against Alabama

Mississippi State Football: Can the Air Raid Take Off or Will the Tide Flood the Runway

The Mississippi State Football team heads to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide this Saturday. Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense has been grounded in the last three games as there have been more turnovers than touchdowns. The Bulldog offense will look to take off and drop bombs on the Alabama defense.

The main question fans may have now is who now will be throwing those bombs against the Tide. Embattled quarterback, KJ Costello has been egregiously inefficient with the football. Leach replaced the senior with true Freshman Will Rogers against Texas A&M and lead the Bulldogs to their only offensive touchdown on the day. Here is what I think needs to happen to help the Bulldog Offense take off on Saturday as well as my score prediction.

 Efficient Quarterback Play

I am sure Mike Leach is just as frustrated with the play of his quarterbacks as the fans are. He is under a lot of pressure for his Air Raid Offense to succeed in the SEC. The offense has been criticized since he was hired with some saying there is no way the Air Raid can work in the SEC. Fo

For the offense to be successful you need a quarterback that is efficient, accurate throwing the football, and has great field vision. The quarterback also needs to be able to make quick decisions on where to throw the ball. Since the LSU game, defenses have basically run the Cloud eight defense.

All-season Costello has been playing like a greedy quarterback. He has taken risks, has not played within the offense, and he has been careless with the football. Against LSU, Costello had five touchdowns and two interceptions. Since that record-breaking game, he has thrown six interceptions and just one touchdown and that came against Arkansas.

The quarterback room has also thinned out with former QB/WR decided to transfer Garrett Shrader and third-string QB Jalen Mayden also electing to head into the portal. So the Air Raid Circus now has only two possible ring leaders. One thing that no one wants to see is a walk-on quarterback playing this season.

Establish Some Form of a Rushing Attack

In past versions of Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, there was some form of rushing attack. In 2008, when he was at Texas Tech, Leach had two runners, (Shannon Woods & Baron Batch) run for  1474 yards and a combined 19 touchdowns to go along with 81 catches for 846 yards and 3 touchdowns. In 2019 at Washingon State, Max Borgi ran for 817 yards 11 touchdowns and caught 86 balls for 597 yards and 4 touchdowns.

This was the production I expected from the running back position when Leach was hired. Kylin Hill was tailor-made to produce in an offense like the Air Raid based on the above-mentioned stats and my opinion of his abilities. I have to add that these results were after Leach had time to fully implement his system. Take a look at the win total after Leach has had time to implement his system.

In year one, the Mississippi State Football team has struggled to run the ball, but against Alabama, the Bulldogs will have to establish some form of a rushing attack on Saturday.

Receivers Finding Openings in the Zone Defense

The Bulldog wideout room took a hit with the departure of Tyrell Shavers. The great news is that the Bulldogs still have plenty of talented pass catchers available to attempt to find openings in the zone defense that has stymied the Bulldog offense. Leach will have to become more creative in his play-calling if the offense is to be successful on Saturday.

Leach may call the plays, the receivers have to execute their routes get open. The receivers also will need possibly adjust their routes and communicate with their quarterback as there have to be openings in the zone defense that can be exploited. I expect Malik Heath to have a great game against Alabama. He will need plenty of help from his position mates Osirus Mitchell, JoVanta Payton, and Austin Williams

I also would like to see how some of the bigger wideouts can impact this game not just in the passing game but in the running game as well.

Wrap It Up

This is the first meeting between Mike Leach and Nick Saban on the opposite sides of the college football field. Mississippi State looks to be overmatched especially with the as promised purging of the roster occurring during and after the bye week.

Another tidbit to add is this match pits the SEC’s number offense against the SEC’s number one defense. If you had told me that the Mississippi State Football team would have the number one defense and not the number one offense, I would not have believed you.

I don’t like to pick against my Bulldogs, but with all of the drama and distractions going on, I just don’t see how the Mississippi State Football team can pull out the win. What do want to see is progress in the offensive game plan and hopefully some touchdowns scored by the Mississippi State offense against Alabama. Here is my prediction of the score.