Just a couple of days after Oklahoma wrapped its 2024 regular season with a disappointing 37-17 loss LSU, the Sooners announced that Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle would become the new play-caller in Norman.

A relatively well-kept secret until his name was associated with the Sooners' vacancy, Arbuckle is often described as a wunderkind, and at 29, he fits the description.

Under his leadership, the Wazzu offense ranked among the top units in the country in several categories, including points per game (38.8) and explosive plays, and he hopes to bring that kind of success to Norman with him.

"Right off the bat, my first conversation with Coach Venables got me really excited," said Arbuckle. "Hearing his vision for the program and the OU offense, I was in total alignment and ready to roll. To have this opportunity to join the University of Oklahoma football program, with its longstanding tradition of excellence, was so enticing to me and I wanted to be a part of it more than anything. It's an honor and a privilege to be in this situation and I'm ready to hit the ground running and get this thing going.

"We're going to run an attacking-style offense. I want to take the fight to the defense. I want to put our guys in position to be successful at all times, and ultimately go out there and be explosive and put a product on the field that Sooner Nation is proud of. I'm excited to get to Norman and get to work."

"Attacking" and "explosive" are adjectives that OU fans are accustomed to using when describing the offense on Owen Field, but that's been far from the case in 2024.

Can Arbuckle bring those qualities back to Norman? Let's take a look at some of Washington State's numbers from this season and look for a precedent.

Oklahoma's offense faced much scrutiny throughout the 2024 season as the unit regularly struggled to produce explosive plays, primarily in the passing game.

Fortunately, Arbuckle should be able to address that issue, and some others, as he'll bring some "Air Raid" roots to Norman along with him.

The Air Raid may not have been born at Oklahoma, but it was certainly molded under the tutelage of an offensive prodigy like Mike Leach and well-respected names like Mark Mangino, Josh Heupel, and Lincoln Riley.

With Arbuckle bringing his flavor of the scheme to Norman, what will things look like when the Sooners' offense is on the field?

Let's look at the key principles of the Air Raid, and some of the nuances that we will see in Arbuckle's version of offense.

In the heyday of Mike Leach and Hal Mumme, the "Air Raid" offense was a revolutionary concept that focused heavily on the passing game. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for offenses to pass on 75-80% of their offensive snaps in that era.

Historically, the system is also characterized by utilizing a no-huddle approach, which gives the quarterback a ton of independence and control over what happens pre-snap. It's common for air raid quarterbacks to regularly make pre-snap checks and audibles. It also puts pressure on the defense by pushing the pace and forcing them to stay in base concepts and personnel packages, making them more predictable to scheme against.

Another fundamental quality of a true "air raid" offense is wide splits from the offensive line, generally ranging from a half-yard to a yard between down linemen. In theory, this gives the quarterback wider passing lanes and forces the edge defenders to have a longer path to the quarterback.

At its core, air raid passing concepts are designed to create favorable matchups for the offense and exploit those matchups – i.e., attacking a defense's most significant weaknesses. By using formations and personnel to create advantageous one-on-one situations, the play-caller can put his best playmakers in position for success in the open field. Personnel groupings for the traditional scheme included a four-wide receiver set with one running back and often a five-wide, or empty, look.

You'll find Air Raid principles sprinkled all over Arbuckle's scheme, but to call it the "air raid" would be a misnomer, and there are several reasons why.