How defense is approaching Air Raid

[aubiefifty 18,231]

How Auburn defense is approaching Mike Leach's Air Raid

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

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Kevin Steele looks at the SEC West and doesn’t see the division of old. He sees a division that has evolved offensively — both in personnel and scheme — and has started to look more and more like the Big 12.

It doesn’t take an expert to see that change, but Steele should know better than most; after all, he spent four seasons as a head coach in the Big 12, coaching Baylor from 1999-2002.

“The SEC West has kind of become a little bit offensively, in terms of game-planning for some of the teams, it’s almost like the Big 12,” Steele said. “… We’ve got three Big 12 coaches, offensive scheme-wise, in the SEC West now. That’s changed things a little bit. It’s not the traditional play Alabama, Georgia, LSU-style offense. It’s a different style offense, and so you have to kind of approach things a little bit different.”

Steele’s experience in the Big 12 also means he has the luxury of having faced, on multiple occasions, Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense—which he again finds himself gameplanning for this week as Auburn (5-4) travels to Starkville, Miss., to take on Mississippi State (2-6) in the Tigers’ regular-season finale. The two teams will kick off from Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., with the game airing on SEC Network.

It’ll be a “unique” challenge for Auburn’s defense, which isn’t accustomed to preparing for the Air Raid. The Tigers last saw Leach’s offense in 2013, when Washington State visited Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first game of Gus Malzahn’s head coaching tenure. Steele, though, has his share of experience against Leach’s scheme, having gone toe to toe with the pirate three times during his tenure at Baylor while Leach was at Texas Tech.

The results weren’t ideal for Steele, whose teams went 0-3 in those games and allowed 51 points per game to the Red Raiders, but this year’s Mississippi State offense isn’t as potent as those Texas Tech teams, and Auburn’s defense is more talented than the ones Baylor fielded in the early 2000s. Results aside, it’s the experience Steele has against that particular offense that brings added value to Auburn this week.

“There’s nothing like you just said, a coordinator that has experience in similar offenses and all that, has went against it,” Malzahn said. “I think that definitely helps.”

Another factor that could work in Auburn’s advantage is that the Tigers already spent some time this season preparing for Mississippi State. The teams were originally scheduled to meet Nov. 14, but that matchup was postponed to this weekend due to COVID-19 issues within the Bulldogs’ program.

By the time the game was postponed, Auburn had already spent time during its originally scheduled bye week gameplanning for Mississippi State and the Air Raid. Now the Tigers will have spent an additional week preparing for the matchup in the leadup to Saturday’s game.

“It’s very unique and kind of a different approach, throw to open up the run,” Malzahn said of the Air Raid. “I’m hoping that off week we had when the game got canceled, I’m hoping that preparation really helps us too, just getting a good footing on everything with our plan. They present challenges, there’s no doubt.”

Mississippi State this season, in Year 1 under Leach, is averaging just 18.3 points per game after bursting onto the scene with a 44-34 upset of defending national champion LSU. The Bulldogs failed to score more than 14 points in each of their next four games after that season-opening win, but they’ve played better of late, posting 24 points in each of their last three games.

While the points haven’t been abundant for Mississippi State, it’s the offensive style that presents a challenge. Mississippi State averages 324.4 passing yards per game (fourth in the SEC) while attempting 54.8 passes per contest—by far the most in the country. Conversely, the Bulldogs tout the nation’s worst rushing offense, averaging 23.75 yards per game on a mere 16.25 attempts per outing.

“I think the biggest thing is -- I mean, they’ve got receivers running all over,” Steele said. “When you watch the tape and you only have nine runs in the whole tape, that tells you right there. You know, when you’ve got a game where it’s nine runs it’s a little different calling than calling a traditional SEC game. It puts a lot of pressure on your pass rush. It puts a lot of pressure on your coverage. They’ve got five-out a lot, and so it’s a little bit different schematically in terms of preparation.”

As linebacker Owen Pappoe described it this week, Mississippi State supplements its run game in a nontraditional way, relying on checkdowns from quarterback Will Rogers, who is completing 73.8 percent of his passes this season and has played considerably better over the Bulldogs’ last three games.

And as Steele knows firsthand, countering the Air Raid is going to take discipline — and the ability to make tackles in space — on Auburn’s part this weekend.

“It’s kind of going to be like a 7-on-7 game,” Pappoe said. “These are the games that linebackers like myself thrive in. We get to run around, make plays and make tackles in space. They’ve definitely shown improvement the last couple of weeks they’ve been playing.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[bigbird 60,939]

I was going to start a thread later about how people would try and defend MSU, but we can do it here.

How would you attempt to defend MSU Saturday?  Which personnel would you have on the field? Alignment and coverages?

[LKEEL75 2,567]

Just now, bigbird said:

I was going to start a thread later about how people would try and defend MSU, but we can do it here.

How would you attempt to defend MSU Saturday?  Which personnel would you have on the field?

I have thought about this a lot and debated with some friends.  I am not certain we have the personnel to do what we did last year against LSU, but I really liked that D scheme against this O.  I think the 7 DBs on the field and mixing up man vs zone with those DBs is a great D against the air raid.  The lack of a run game should help us our LBs.  Also, the lack of run game will help the DL fire off up field more and hopefully get more pressure than we have seen in the last few weeks.

"Just my opinion.  I could be wrong"...

[aubiefifty 18,231]

i would tie states qb's shoelaces together so he could not scramble first..........

[AuburnEagle79 2,188]

Our defense is approaching thinking, "thank goodness they may not run it down our throats for 60 minutes" 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

I hope it's with zone coverage and not man to man. Last time Steele faced the air raid it wasn't pretty. 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

3 minutes ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

Our defense is approaching thinking, "thank goodness they may not run it down our throats for 60 minutes" 

Steele hates him some zone coverage so if he goes man to man it will be.................................... threw it all over our asses for 60 minutes. 

[aubiefifty 18,231]

Just now, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Steele hates him some zone coverage so if he goes man to man it will be.................................... threw it all over our asses for 60 minutes. 

who would you replace steele with? well, with anyone that would be willing to come to auburn.

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

Just now, aubiefifty said:

who would you replace steele with? well, with anyone that would be willing to come to auburn.

Who wants to replace Steele? I damn sure don't. Just stating the obvious. Steele does love him some man to man coverages. That won't work this Saturday night. Was also trying to make a little joke. Lighten up the place a little. 

[aubcali 456]

Iowa State’s 3-3-3

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

5 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

who would you replace steele with? well, with anyone that would be willing to come to auburn.

And LSU tried that the first game and the PIRATE made them pay. Man to man. 

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

I really hope we can learn to play zone. We have taken only a few snaps in a zone defensive scheme since Steele was hired. Everyone here knows we play not only man but press man coverage. One single team has only played man/press man vs Moo State this year and that was LSU. 

LSU lost but was able to keep up. If we dont change our defensive philosophy at least for this game, it COULD get ugly. If we can actually lineup and play zone worth a darn we should win simply by out talenting them...but if we line up in man it will likely be yet another long day and disappointing loss.

[DAG 34,754]

16 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

I hope it's with zone coverage and not man to man. Last time Steele faced the air raid it wasn't pretty. 

I’ve actually said the same thing in the prediction thread. ..I feel like man to man allows for some big plays to happen very quickly. Even NS has a threshold for man to man. I would rather play a lot more zone and containment . However, I also understand that we might not have the players to do so. 

[aubaseball 2,819]

The way to defend is put in the Arkansas/ MSU game tape and duplicate.    

[ellitor 33,776]

25 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

I hope it's with zone coverage and not man to man. Last time Steele faced the air raid it wasn't pretty. 

We're in trouble. I don't remember the last time he used a zone.

[bigbird 60,939]

27 minutes ago, aubcali said:

Iowa State’s 3-3-3

Playing with 9 doesn't sound like a winning strategy

[bigbird 60,939]

9 minutes ago, ellitor said:

We're in trouble. I don't remember the last time he used a zone.

Or recruited a zone DB

[AUFriction 1,179]

Schematic question. Why is everyone so convinced that zone coverage is the way to go? Given how much they throw it and how their whole play book is like less than 10 plays, I’d think with man coverage, you’d likely come away with a lot of interceptions by undercutting some of the repetitive routes.

[cole256 17,085]

32 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Who wants to replace Steele? I damn sure don't. Just stating the obvious. Steele does love him some man to man coverages. That won't work this Saturday night. Was also trying to make a little joke. Lighten up the place a little. 

I do

[cole256 17,085]

Just now, AUFriction said:

Schematic question. Why is everyone so convinced that zone coverage is the way to go? Given how much they throw it and how their whole play book is like less than 10 plays, I’d think with man coverage, you’d likely come away with a lot of interceptions by undercutting some of the repetitive routes.

Because you talk about it like it's a video game and it's so much more that goes into it

[DAG 34,754]

2 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

Schematic question. Why is everyone so convinced that zone coverage is the way to go? Given how much they throw it and how their whole play book is like less than 10 plays, I’d think with man coverage, you’d likely come away with a lot of interceptions by undercutting some of the repetitive routes.

Try to play bump to bump man on a team whose offense is passing 99 percent of the time. Just think about it for a hot second . 

[AUApostle 7,759]

7 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Playing with 9 doesn't sound like a winning strategy

Don't forget about both sidelines as defenders.

[cole256 17,085]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

Try to play bump to bump man on a team whose offense is passing 99 percent of the time. Just think about it for a hot second . 

Also you have to think that just running man you're not making it difficult for the QB mentally. If they get in a rhythm it's a long day coming up ahead

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

I do believe or I damn sure hope that Dana Holgorsen broke Steele on playing man to man vs the air raid. 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

10 minutes ago, cole256 said:

I do

You do man to man or do you like running the zone?