Wisconsin Football Base Passing Concepts in the Dairy Raid Offense

Welcome back to the classroom as we continue our Introduction to the Dairy Raid series. Today, in Chapter One, my goal is to introduce four standard Air Raid passing concepts used by the Wisconsin Football team. 

There is a lot to cover within the Air Raid passing game, but I want to keep it in-house and focus on what you’ll see at Camp Randall on Saturdays. We’ll start by discussing basic concepts of mesh, cross, spot, and verts because these are the most common in Wisconsin’s offense. 

These concepts are universal and used by virtually every Air Raid team around the world. I’ll introduce this concept and break down route progressions and footwork. 

Together, we will install the play as if you were in minicamp with me. Now, with a basic understanding of the play fresh in your mind, we’ll dive into an example of how Phil Longo runs similar versions with the Wisconsin football team. We’ll draw it up on the chalkboard and watch film clips of the plays in use so you can see both the right and wrong ways to execute the Air Raid.

Let’s begin with the Mesh concept. 

The Air Raid is all about putting stress on the defense and making them defend the entire field. 

The mesh is a perfect example of a play that puts horizontal stress on the defense. It works equally against both man and zone coverage because it creates open grass in different ways for all coverages. 

In the Wisconsin football offensive system, the mesh happens between our two slot receivers, Y (strong slot) and H (weak slot). From a standard 2×2 set, the Y sets the top of the mesh at about 5 yards directly over the football. Once he reaches the apex of his cross, he will flatten out. 

Our H is working to get as tight as he can underneath the Y where they mesh at the middle of the field. This creates a natural pick vs. Man coverage because at least one of the trailing defenders will have to drift behind or they will run into each other. 

Versus Zone the stress is caused by as soon as the meshers cross each other they are looking to sit down in the first open zone. So wherever the linebackers drop in their zones, they can’t cover the whole middle of the field. There is always a hole. 

To help aid in creating this stress, we have our two outside receivers running vertical routes (Z burst corner, X fade) to ensure there is no top-down help. Our running back is also running a bubble to the strong side to create more horizontal stress. 

Like all Air Raid passing concepts, the QB will go through his progression reading open grass. Is his first receiver open? Throw it? No? Move on to #2 and on down the line. That’s the beauty of the Air Raid. There is no thinking, just a reaction.

Moving on to the Cross concept

With the cross we are now looking to create a high/low stress. Building off of the mesh we want to expand the zones occupied by the LB’s and now put receivers both under them and over. So, let’s build the progression and really put the defense in conflict.

We actually start our progression with the weak-side wide receiver (X). As our QB takes his drop, he will peak at the X. If the X beats his man off the line with his fade release, we will look to hit him with a hole shot. 

If not, our eyes move back inside to our H, who is running a 3-5 yard choice route. He wants to run away from leverage, so if he’s uncovered, he will just sit down. If he has inside leverage, he will break outside, which we will likely see. And it’s this defender we will look to put into conflict as our Y runs his crossing route.

The Y will look to hit a landmark at about 10 yards by the time he leaves the box. He will do this by working under the first defender he encounters (usually a nickel) and over the next (the inside linebacker). Then as he approaches 10 yards he will flatten out toward the sideline. Now, the LB inside the H will have a choice. Work downhill to the choice and leave the cross open, or sag on the cross and leave an easy pitch & catch to the H all day. Whatever he picks is wrong. 

And to make sure he doesn’t get any help from the safeties, our Z will be running a deep Dig route to hold the safeties or give a home run shot. The F is once again running a bubble to create more horizontal stress and to be an outlet if all else is covered.

Introducing “Triangle Reads” with the Spot Concept

A triangle read is when we use three receivers, vertical and horizontal threat, to the defense in the same concept. Usually, there is a defender inside the triangle, and he will be the trigger man to help us determine if we are going North/South or East/West. 

Our Spot Concept starts with our Z receiver. On the snap, he will run a three-yard slant route. If his defender runs with him, he will keep running. If he doesn’t feel the defender running with him, he will look to sit down as soon as he leaves the wake of the vertical release of the Y. The Y is running a deep corner route, which can be adjusted to an out route based on the leverage of the safety. Our trusty F is once again running another bubble, but this time to create the bottom of the triangle.

The progression is simple. If the Triangle defender is working for depth, then we are progressing Z to F since it will be very difficult for him to attack the ball East/West. If he works for width, we will work Y to Z to F. 

The adjustable corner/dig allows the QB to throw the Y open if he has the leverage. If he doesn’t, then our slant/spot should be wide open. If not, we can dump it out to the F, who should have leverage on the flat defender. 

On the backside of the play, we have a couple of routes for both hot reads and man coverage beaters. Our H is running a seam and will be our hot read if we get pressure from the backside. Our X is running a deep out route, which allows our QB to throw the ball hard and low to the sideline for a low-risk release option.

By creating both horizontal and vertical stresses on the same play, we put the defense in a can’t-win scenario. As long as Wisconsin football can execute and win their respective battles, the Badgers have an answer for all coverages.

Now, let’s take our deep shot.

With a vertical concept, we are looking to take the idea of defending the whole field to the max. It might seem simple to just tell everyone to “go deep,” but there is a lot more to the play than that. 

Now, there is some truth to that statement, however, because at the start of the play, that’s what our four receivers are doing. They are taking off vertically, but instead of just aiming for the end zone, they are working toward landmarks. Our outside receivers are looking to stack the numbers and work toward a landmark about 10 yards downfield. Our slots are working toward the hash marks, with their landmarks being 10-15 yards downfield. 

If their defender is in their hip pocket, they are just going to take off. If the defender is still over the top of them (capping them) by the time they get to their landmarks, we want our receivers to break down. Our outside receivers will run curls or comebacks and come downhill to the QB or sideline, depending on leverage. Our Y will curl up on the hash, while our H will look to split the defense and run down the post.

As for the QB progression, it is as simple as working from outside across the field, starting at the weakest cornerback or the best outside matchup. If he can’t find another open going through his four receivers, our F will be the check down over the middle of the field and working to the sideline.

But if the offensive line can give him enough time, there is going to be open space. Even the best defenses will have difficulty covering the entire field from sideline to sideline and from the line of scrimmage to the end zone.

Now for the visual learners

So there you have it. Four basic Wisconsin football Air Raid concepts that are staples of the Dairy Raid offense.

If you are more of a video learner, click on the video below, where I have drawn up the concepts both in my system and variations that you will see on Saturdays from the Badgers. I’ve also included clips of the plays being run in Wisconsin football games this season, so now that you know how it’s supposed to work, you can see if it did.

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