Air Raid Has Statement Weekend at Mississippi State and Beyond

Mississippi State football's offense made a statement this past week -- and so did the scheme the team runs -- across the country.

The Bulldogs moved to 3-2 overall (1-1 in conference play) on Saturday as head coach Mike Leach improved to 8-4 in his career against Texas A&M and 4-2 against the Aggies on Kyle Field.

“It’s one of the greatest places to play on earth,” Leach told reporters ahead of the game. “I said that when I was at (Texas) Tech. It’s one of the Carnegie Halls of football. It’s gigantic, holds a ton of people, the grass is impeccable and, of course, the Aggies are always highly motivated.”

Outside of the Bulldogs, other Air Raid teams like Nevada, Iowa Wesleyan and the Arizona Cardinals all also came out with a win by the time the weekend was over.

Here's a look into those four teams in their latest matchups:

Mississippi State Messes with Texas, Comes Back to Starkville With 26-22 Victory After Trip Out West

MSU headed into College Station as an underdog but left with its third victory of the season, going into the open date on a high note with the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide up next on the schedule. As head coach Mike Leach put it, the Bulldogs did a lot less "overthinking" on the same night in which sophomore quarterback Will Rogers seemed to turn the corner and had the best performance of his college career.

Rogers, who has rightfully earned plenty of accolades since Saturday, completed 46-of-59 passes (78%) for 408 yards with three touchdowns against a then No. 15-ranked Texas A&M. He's the only quarterback in the SEC this year to have posted a 400-yard, three-touchdown performance (which he now has two of). This is also his sixth career 300-yard passing game, which is second in second in MSU history behind only Dak Prescott, who totaled nine of those (2012-15).

Wide receiver Makai Polk was among the MSU players who put on a dominant performance in the victory, reeling in 13 receptions for 126 yards (9.7-yard average) with two touchdowns.

It's safe to say both critics of the scheme and of Rogers' play have been silenced to this point.

Nevada Takes Down Boise State on the Blue Turf For the First Time Since 1997

It wasn't long ago that Nevada quarterback Carson Strong said that he and the Wolf Pack were aiming to the be the "top dogs in the conference" and they definitely looked the part on Saturday, playing perhaps their best complementary football on the season.

Quarterback Carson Strong, who is continuing to stake his claim as the top quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft, completed 25-of-38 passes for 263 yards with one touchdown en route to Nevada's first win at Boise State since 1997. With the victory, a dynamic Wolf Pack team improves to 4-1 as it continues to pursue a Mountain West Championship.

Nevada has served as one of the finest examples in the nation of running the Air Raid at a high level over recent history under head coach Jay Norvell and offensive coordinator Matt Mumme -- the Wolf Pack have lost just three combined games between the 2020 season and now, near the halfway point of the 2021 season.

Iowa Wesleyan Has Record-Breaking Day as Air Raid Returns at Full Force

The birthplace of the Air Raid offense struggled for years following Hal Mumme and Mike Leach's departure after the 1991 season, but a pair of Mumme's former players in current Tigers head coach MD Daniels and offensive coordinator Kiefer Price have brought the scheme back to the place it originated.

After a limited COVID season in 2020, this season marks the first true return of the Air Raid at IWU. The Tigers got their first win of the season in a big way on Saturday, defeating Crown College, 69-28. That's the second-most points IWU has scored in the history of the program (the highest was when the team defeated William Penn, 103-0 on Halloween night in 1953).

The team put up up 626 yards of total offense, with quarterback Gavin Esquivel completing 31-of-47 passes for 434 yards while breaking former IWU quarterback Dustin Dewald's single-game passing touchdown record with a total of eight scoring passes.

Working in an NFL it Already Conquered: Arizona Cardinals Improve to 4-0

One of the most common misconceptions that somehow continues to find its way into conversation is that the Air Raid can't work in the NFL. Aside from the fact that you can find multiple Air Raid concepts run within just about every NFL team's offensive scheme, it's important to note how much success the Cardinals are having running the system under head coach Kliff Kingsbury -- one of Leach's former quarterbacks.

The Cardinals jumped to 4-0 this week (for the first time since 2012), currently atop the NFC West, as they handed the Los Angeles Rams their first loss of the season. Quarterback Kyler Murray completed 24-of-32 passes for 268 yards with two touchdowns on the 37-20 victory. The ground game also got going, with running back Chase Edmonds carrying the ball 12 times for 120 yards and rusher James Conner recording 50 rushing yards and two scores on the ground with 18 carries.

Next up, Arizona faces the San Francisco 49ers (2-2) on the road on Sunday.