Dave Christensen was hired as the run game coordinator, has put the interior linemen in a three point stance and moved largely to a pulling zone blacking scheme instead of the traditional hat on a hat man blocking Air Raid run plays.

Normally the air raid runs the ball by spreading the defense out and just out blocking the five players in the box. That works in a league like the Big XII where there arent many LBs who can play man coverage and stuff the run and defensive linemen who can eat up multiple blockers easily. Most teams in lesser conferences are forced to play with 6 DBs against 4 wide sets, or three wide with athletic tight ends. It doesnt work so well when teams can remain in their nickel sets with 6 in the box against four wide because the linebackers can handle it.

Last year we tried blocking six guys with five linemen straight up, which was even worse than it sounds when you consider Bama and Ole Miss and MSU and LSU had linemen that couldnt be blocked one on one. With zone blocking, you can essentially negate the numbers advantage by pulling linemen, TEs and H-backs into the gaps you wish to run in and turning loose the linemen and linebackers away from the play. The way we ran it last year, unblocked players were free to make plays if they simply read the gap correctly.