Josh Heupel says notion of Vols offense being Air Raid is ‘laughable’

Josh Heupel brought a new high-powered offense to the Tennessee Volunteers football program when he took over as head coach in 2021.

Since Heupel has been the Volunteers’ head coach, there’s been a common misconception that Tennessee runs a form of the famous “Air Raid” offense because they put up so many points. The Vols’ have scored 120 points in the first two games of the 2024 season.

During his weekly press conference on Monday, Heupel was asked about his offense getting the label of an “Air Raid”, system, which was developed by Mike Leach and former Kentucky Wildcats head coach Hal Mumme.

Don’t call Tennessee’s offense a version of the air raid pic.twitter.com/hwrBWklFzT

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) September 9, 2024

“That’s kinda laughable, to me, to be honest,” said Heupel. “You look at our ability to run the football since we’ve been here. Statistically, over close to the last decade, we’ve always ran the ball really efficiently and effectively. We have balance. We do create big plays in the pass game. We create those things in the run game, too.

“I was proud of the physicality that we played with (against NC State) on the offensive line. Our tight ends, our running backs played that way, too. Same thing on the other side of the football. You look at the way our front seven played at the line of scrimmage. That was a big part of the football game.”

Sean Labar

Sean Labar is an SEC football contributor for Saturday Down South.