Mississippi State tailbacks play pivotal role in Air Raid attack

Everyone knows what Mike Leach wants to do on offense. Mississippi State will throw the football early and often in their Air Raid offense.

The Bulldogs lead college football in pass play percentage at 75.94 percent. WKU is No. 2 overall at 68.08 percent. Leach wants to throw the ball all over the yard, but using tailbacks remains important for the Air Raid master.

Heavy volume

Mississippi State uses the short passing game as an extension of the run game asking for a pair of sophomore running backs to be heavily involved weekly.

At Z receiver, California transfer Makai Polk is the clear No. 1 option for quarterback Will Rogers. The redshirt sophomore leads the team by a wide margin in targets (88) and receptions (58). Mississippi State force-feeds him the football, but their two tailbacks are the second and third favorite options.

Jo’quavious Marks is second on the team with 49 receptions on 56 targets. Dillon Johnson is third on the team with 38 receptions on 49 targets. The duo has combined to collect a 43.81 percent receiving success rate.

Each is averaging right at six yards per reception, but dumping the ball to the tailbacks is an important part of the offensive recipe in Starkville.

Effective rushing in small doses

Leach is not really a fan of the run game. The head coach is a firm believer in passing first, but Mississippi State will attempt to run it at times to catch defenses off balance.

The Bulldogs are very simple in their concepts using inside zone, and an occasional toss sweep out of the shotgun. However, the ground attack has been efficient when the Bulldogs go to it.

The twosome of Johnson and Marks has combined to record 94 rushes this season, and the duo is averaging just 4.27 yards per attempt. However, the ground game is used situationally by Leach.

Mississippi State will call on the run in many short-yardage situations, and overall the Bulldogs have had a bunch of success. Johnson and Marks have combined to record a 58.51 percent rushing success rate on the season despite the small yardage total. That number is higher than the total produced by Chris Rodriguez Jr. this season (54.33%). The Bulldogs can run the football when they have to.

Mississippi State has old school approach

In 1998, Mike Leach called the offense at Kentucky when Heisman Trophy candidate Tim Couch threw the ball around 50 times per game. The tailbacks were a huge part of that passing attack.

Running backs Anthony White and Derek Homer combined to collect 119 receptions and logged 234 rushing attempts. The duo accounted for 10 touchdowns and was essential to an offense that torched record books in Lexington.

Nearly a quarter-century later, and not much has changed for Leach’s offense. The Air Raid attack uses plenty of two-back sets and will look to get the running backs heavily involved in non-traditional ways.

Kentucky must keep the Mississippi State tailbacks in check on Saturday night.