It’s a legitimate question.

I was tempted to say it seemed like a curious cloud looming over Wazzu’s game against Houston last weekend, except…

The Cougs’ 31-24 victory was played indoors.

Good thing they closed the roof at NRG Stadium, too, since the temperature had boiled up to the mid-90s with plenty of humidity.

But I digress…

The more vital question at hand — rather than how many fans might have keeled over from heat stroke if they’d kept the roof open — is strictly about a trend in college football.

Could a team running the Air Raid offense win a national championship?

Or even be in the mix for a shot at the final playoff shootout?

It seems like everyone, including Kliff Kingsbury’s Arizona Cardinals in the NFL, is adopting all or parts of the Air Raid concepts.

The now-famous Air Raid, as you likely know, was the brainchild of Hal Mumme and Mike Leach way back in the 1990s at Iowa Wesleyan, Valdosta State and then Kentucky.

And Washington State, of course, plays the pure version.

Even when QB Anthony Gordon was kneeling down to run out the clock in Houston, he took those snaps in a shotgun formation.

BACK IN the day, I happened to be on a train trip across the country with legendary coach-turned-broadcaster John Madden.

We talked about a million things, but naturally a lot of chats returned to football.

At one point when we were simply enjoying a beverage in the lounge car, I asked about John’s favorite offensive philosophy, because he was known for keeping things simple.

To illustrate a larger point, Madden grabbed a cocktail napkin and drew a football formation with all 22 players pretty much in standard positions.

“You can scheme and draw up any kind of offense or any sort of plays,” he said, “but when the ball is snapped, if my Xs knock all your Os on their ass, your offense isn’t going anywhere.”

The message was simple: Almost always, you win because you have better players.

At the college level these days, Clemson and Alabama aren’t trying to fool anybody, nor are Georgia, Oklahoma or Ohio State.

These schools have platoons of fantastic athletes, and incredible depth on top of it.

You might play teams like that tough for a while, but eventually sheer talent will put you to the sword.

At the end of the day, it’s very, very likely that their Xs will knock anyone’s Os on the ass.

IT WILL be interesting to see if any of the teams running the Air Raid ever match it with a stable of outstanding players.

The basic premise of the Air Raid is some play — or some receiver — is always available for success if everyone reads it correctly.

When it works, a good team can put up points in a blinding hurry.

The flip side of that, however, is that Air Raid teams don’t tend to have long possessions.

They score quickly, or fail quickly — putting the defense back on the field for an ungodly number of snaps, especially if the Air Raid (or Run and Shoot) fails to move the ball on a particular series.

Leach and other proponents of the Air Raid don’t like to discuss that issue, naturally, because they’re trying to recruit a two- or three-deep unit of elite defenders.

What you’re seeing now at Wazzu is that the pool of top-notch athletes is growing. Four true or redshirt freshman were impact players on defense last Friday night.

THE COUGS turned the screws on Houston (and wizard QB D’Eriq King) in the second half because they had better athletes and more depth.

Likewise, Washington State’s habitual problem in the Apple Cup has come down — so far — to the fact that U-Dub has had more and better athletes than Wazzu.

The gap is shrinking, but it’s there.

And so non-believers will continue to claim that you can’t make it to the biggest stage running an Air Raid offense.

Their argument, though, might get seriously tested if Leach or one of his disciples grabs a plum job in the SEC — or maybe the Big Ten.

Remember that Leach was courted by Tennessee, which is struggling at the moment — but the sky’s the limit in Knoxville.

It’s not impossible for a gang of Vols to win everything.

Meanwhile, it’s more or less accepted that there’s a ceiling for teams like Texas Tech and Washington State.

Is that really true?

No one knows for certain, but…

We’d see a hell of a show if Leach can bust the ceiling down on the Palouse.

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Steve also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball once monthly during the offseason.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com