While many believe that Western Kentucky runs a true air raid, differences between the offenses exist.
The air raid offense, which was made popular by the likes of Hal Mumme and Mike Leach, is currently undergoing a facelift.
While some teams still run the pure air raid — including Mississippi State under Leach — other teams have begun to adopt certain air raid principles, while combining it with another offensive scheme, such as the west coast offense.
That was the case with Western Kentucky last season. Despite bringing in a host of players and coaches from Houston Baptist, including offensive coordinator Zach Kittley and quarterback Bailey Zappe, Western Kentucky’s head coach, Tyson Helton, didn’t consider last season’s offense to be a true air raid.