Kentucky Defense Ready to Face Air Raid Challenge

It only happens once a year. One week every season, the Kentucky defense is forced to prepare for something that’s not like anything else it will see from any other opponent.

It, of course, is the Air Raid offense, employed by Mike Leach and his troops at Mississippi State. Those Bulldogs will host Kentucky on Saturday night at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi where the football will, without a doubt, be in the air. A lot.

The Air Raid, once run by Hal Mumme (with Leach as an assistant) at Kentucky, is now the offense of choice at Mississippi State. And, all these years later, it still works, according to UK defensive coordinator Brad White.

“It’s a challenge when you face a different style of offense that you don’t see all the time,” White said. “You’ve got to try to get as much as you can in. Obviously, it was nice to have a bye week ahead of it.”

What is it about this specific offense that makes it tough to defend? White thinks it’s the volume of balls in the air.

“If some throw it a lot, they may throw it 30 or 40 times,” White said. “They average 56 or 60 a game. That’s an entirely different feel. And the pace at which they run their routes – it’s a challenge.”

The Cats will be required to play their assignments as MSU dinks and dunks its way down the field on every drive. It’s something that is hard to practice against.

“It’s really hard to replicate,” White said. “To try to get that same replication from a scout team, you can’t get it all perfect in practice.”

Last season, Kentucky more than held MSU in check. The Cats intercepted MSU quarterbacks six times, including a pick-six by Jordan Wright to seal the game, on the way to a 24-2 win at Kroger Field. The six picks were huge but White liked something else that his defense did against the ‘Dogs last year.

“The big thing that we did last year that we need to do – obviously the turnovers were huge – but tackling,” White said. “You have to be able to tackle, you have to pin ball carriers to the ground and have great vision.”

It’s a challenge unlike most in the world of college football. And it’s something that White hopes his defense is ready to defend this weekend in Starkville.