Tag: washington

Defending the Air Raid (Apple Cup 2019)

MQ takes a look at how the Huskies defend a pure Air Raid system in Wazzu.

Though Mike Leach has never won a major championship as a head coach (he’s won two divisional titles in ‘08 and ‘18), his legacy as an offensive innovator is unquestioned. The Air Raid which, along with Hal Mumme, Leach helped create used to be a fringe system that wasn’t taken seriously by “real” football coaches. Fast forward to today and the system is everywhere from youth football to the pros.

The blending of West Coast, Air Coryell, and a simplified playbook has made the Air Raid the choice base offense for many coaches across the country. Numbers within the system and the plethora of successful offshoots have established the system as the present and future of football. What started at little Iowa Wesleyan has risen to be a dominant form of offense in the country. The Spread movement is over and it has won, no thanks in part to the athlete and kid-friendly system Leach helped create.

This isn’t a story about the Air Raid or even Leach, rather the focus is on a dominant defense that has had tremendous success yet is not talked about outside of PAC 12 country. Chris Petersen made a name for himself as a giant killer at Boise St. When he took the job at Washington nearly everyone felt it was a perfect fit. It took Petersen two years, but Washington was back to winning 10+ games from ‘16-’18. Throughout that time, the Huskies dominated their in-state rival Washington St. In fact, the average score since ‘13 for the Apple Cup has been 35-14. Really, no contest.

To finish the article, subscribe below:

 

© 2020 MatchQuarters.com | Cody Alexander | All rights reserved.

Go deeper than just X’s and O’s. Have a philosophy.

MQ’s other books are available on Amazon and Kindle:

Cautious Aggression: Defending Modern Football

Hybrids: The Making of a Modern Defense

Match Quarters: A Modern Guidebook to Split-Field Coverages

—

As always, support the site by following me on Twitter (@The_Coach_A) and spreading the word to your coaching friends by liking and retweeting the articles you read (even sharing them via Facebook and LinkedIn).

Do not hesitate to contact me with questions through the site’s CONTACT page or through my DM on Twitter. I enjoy speaking with you guys (iron sharpens iron).

– Coach A. | #ArtofX

Five Cut-ups to Improve Your Off-Season Self-Scout

Improve your off-season self-scout by creating special cut-ups.

01-gosOff-Season Film Study

Film study is one of the greatest ways to improve on schemes and calls made the year before. In order to correctly monitor the calls that were being made a defensive coordinator must look at certain scenarios where he struggled the year before. It is important to analyze the season with a critical eye and always ask, “How can we improve?” From player personnel decisions to eliminating calls altogether, using cut-ups from the year before allows the DC to evaluate when and where plays were called. Remember hindsight is 20/20. One way to increase improvement from year to year is to view cut-ups that highlight defensive deficiencies and struggles. There are multiple ways to create cut-ups, but it is important to have certain ones created that highlight the unique ways offenses attack a defense while allowing the DC to have hard data on what needs to be fixed within the scheme.  Continue reading “Five Cut-ups to Improve Your Off-Season Self-Scout”

%d bloggers like this: