Why Oklahoma State’s Air Raid Offense Commits to Running The Football

It’s a development that might make Mike Leach’s head to an exorcist twist. But Eric Morris has developed a fondness for the run game.

Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Even Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris admits that his mentor, Mike Leach, might not like his version of the Air Raid offense.

Leach was a pioneer in the passing game and the Air Raid revolutionized offense in college football. He has, perhaps, the biggest coaching tree in college football. Assistants and former players have taken his offense to, in some cases, even greater heights than he was able to do.

Morris played for Leach as a wide receiver. Later, he returned as a wide receivers coach at Texas Tech under Kliff Kingsbury, one of Leach’s best quarterbacks at Texas Tech. Morris carried that offense with him to head coaching stops at Incarnate Word, North Texas and now Oklahoma State.

During Big 12 media days, he said that every one of the members of the Leach coaching tree put their own imprint on the Air Raid. Earlier during fall workouts, Morris explained his in-depth — and how he got there.

Eric Morris’ Air Raid ‘Imprint’

Oklahoma State's Caleb Hawkins, | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Last year Caleb Hawkins rushed for 1,434 yards at North Texas in Morris’ offense. It’s a gaudy rushing figure in an offense designed to pass the ball. Plus, quarterback Drew Mestemaker threw for 4,379 yards, so it’s not like Hawkins took away touches.

Hawkins was No. 5 in the country in rushing yards. North Texas was No. 25 in the country in rushing yards per game at 194.4.

If that seems incongruous with the Air Raid, Morris doesn’t believe it has to be. He says he needs a good running game — and he’s done the math.

Morris took over at Incarnate Word in 2018. He had just come off watching quarterback Patrick Mahomes put up huge numbers in Lubbock, but the team had little to show for it. The Red Raiders didn’t win a Big 12 title even with his talent. Morris was chasing championships and he was curious why with Mahomes, the Red Raiders didn’t come close to challenging for a title.

“I was tired of [you know] at Texas Tech multiple times being the number one offense in the nation and not having any championships that come along with it,” Morris said.

So, he started looking at teams that did win titles, such was the 2018 Clemson Tigers and the 2019 LSU Tigers. No one would accuse those teams of not throwing the football. Clemson ran a spread offense and won a national title behind quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who threw for 3,280 yards and 30 touchdowns. The 2019 Tigers were led by Joe Burrow, who threw for 5,671 yards, 60 touchdowns and won the Heisman Trophy.

Both put up gaudy numbers. But Morris noticed something else — the run game.

As much as both teams threw — and they threw the ball a combined 1,075 times in those two seasons — they ran the ball effectively, too.

Clemson racked up 3,723 yards rushing that 2018 season, an average of 248.9 yards per game. LSU gained 2,502 yards rushing in 2019 for an average of 166.8 yards per game.

Morris didn’t just notice it there. He noticed it with other teams, too. The run game and the pass game can co-exist at high levels — and should when it comes to winning titles.

“When I went back … the people that were winning championships were rushing for about 150 to 175 yards a game,” Morris said.

Morris started implementing that with his teams at UIW. Over time, the results gathered steam and the Cardinals started winning more games.

In 2018, UIW rushed for 160.5 yards per game and went 6-5.

In 2019, UIW rushed for 132.3 ypg and went 5-7

In 2020 (spring of 2021), UIW rushed for 175.2 ypg and went 3-3

In 2021, UIW 127.2 ypg and went 10-3.

He returned to head coaching in 2023 with North Texas.

In 2023 the Mean Green rushed for 191.2 ypg and went 5-7.

In 2024 the Mean Green rushed for 160.6 ypg and went 6-7.

In 2025 the Mean Green rushed for 194.4 ypg and went 12-2.

It’s not a perfect cause-and-effect relationship for Morris yet. But he has bought into the idea that a powerful run game and his high-octane pass game can co-exist, especially if he has high-level players like Hawkins and Mestemaker at the controls.

“We applied it in our game planning at Incarnate Word and we started winning [conference] championships,” Morris said. “The same thing last year with our team [at North Texas]. We were explosive passing the ball and holistically we were also really efficient at running the ball.”

It works — even if the Pirate wouldn’t totally approve.