![]() Houston’s machine-like execution resulted in a 9-2 season, capped off with a 64-0 thrashing of cross town rival Rice and sparked national interest in how a program who had gone 1-10 only a few seasons before had so quickly turned it all around. Ware broke 27 NCAA records and receiver Manny Hazard set his own record with 142 receptions. En route to quarterback Andre Ware becoming the first African American quarterback to win the Heisman trophy in 1989, the Cougars posted a mind numbing 624.9 yards (still the FBS record) and 53.5 points per game (second all time). The “Run and Shoot” as it was called put up offensive production that by even today’s standards is jaw dropping. Yet in the late 80s/early 90s when Mumme and Leach were little known coaches still climbing the ranks at the NAIA and Division II level, there was another pass first system in Houston that was putting up video game numbers and taking the football world by storm. Much of the credit for the spread’s ascent to the precipice of college football is given to Hal Mumme and Mike Leach (and maybe even more so to Lavelle Edwards) and rightfully so, as the imprint of their air raid concepts can be found in practically every team’s offensive arsenal. But when LSU not only adopted a spread identity in 2019, but then proceeded to put together maybe the best offensive season in the history of college football, the fight was done. ![]() When the Los Angeles Rams nearly won the Super Bowl with a quarterback from an Air Raid offense, then the Kansas City Chiefs did win one with an even better Air Raider, the ref had to think seriously about stopping the fight. ![]() You knew the battle was almost over when Nick Saban’s Alabama changed its stripes, opened up its offense and kept winning. Bill Conelly in his article “ How the spread offense conquered college football, from Hal Mumme to Joe Burrow” describes LSU’s 2019 season as the final nail in the coffin in the long philosophical struggle between old school football and spreading it out: The term “spread” is a loose one in that it encompasses seemingly limitless variations (consider the contrast between Malzahn’s smashmouth spread and Leach’s air raid) but one principle remains consistent-teams are utilizing the forward pass more efficiently now than ever before. Over the last two decades the spread offense has exploded across the college football landscape and established itself as the predominant scheme in the modern game.
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