BTI's Rants and Ramblings: Monday Morning Offensive Playcalling Breakdown

Every Monday, I'll give you a breakdown of how the offense performed in the various down and distance situations.  Against New Mexico State, UK used a potent rushing attack and efficient passing game to dominate on that side of the ball.  Now, that is against one of the worst defenses in FBS, but it was nice to see progress with Stephen Johnson in at QB.  It will be interesting to see how much play he gets if Barker comes back against South Carolina. 1st Down Pass: 6-8. 108 yards Run: 34 rushes for 225 yards (6.6 ypc), 4 TD Combined Season Statistics Pass: 15-21, 279 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 2 sacks for -10 yards (1 fumble lost) Run: 63 rushes for 392 yards (6.2 ypc), 1 TD RECAP: UK ran the ball more on 1st down against NMSU than in the previous 2 games combined, which is a good symbol of how well they were able to run the ball.  But let's not forget the passing game was pretty good too, with a 75% completion percentage and 18 yards per completion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Down and Long (6 yards or more) Pass: 4-5, 39 yards, 1 TD Run: 10 rushes for 83 yards (8.3 ypc) Combined Season Statistics Pass: 7-14, 167 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT, 4 sacks for -21 yards (1 fumble lost) Run: 21 rushes for 109 yards (5.2 ypc) RECAP: UK did a very nice job getting themselves out of tough 2nd down situations.  Kept feeding the ball to Boom and Snell and Johnson did a nice job completing passes.  The key in 2nd and long is not gaining it all in one swipe but get yourself in a manageable 3rd down spot and UK did that all game. 2nd Down and Short (5 yards or less) Pass: 4-4, 107 yards, 1 TD Run: 6 rushes for 43 yards (7.2 ypc), 1 TD Combined Season Statistics Pass: 4-5, 107 yards, 1 TD, 1 sack for -5 yards (1 fumble lost) Run: 10 rushes for 61 yards (6.1 ypc), 1 TD RECAP: The CJ Conrad long touchdown included here and Johnson was perfect in his 4 attempts, all for at least 10 yards. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Down and Long (6 yards or more) Pass: 4-7, 42 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (converted 2 of 7) Run: No Plays Combined Season Statistics Pass: 10-19, 121 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 2 sacks for -21 yards (converted 5 of 21) Run: 1 rush for 2 yards (2.0 ypc) (converted 0 of 1) RECAP: Cats still struggling in 3rd and long situations because it forces them to throw the ball and the QB's haven't been good enough and the WR are not big enough playmakers right now.  And once again, UK completed 2 passes on 3rd and long short of the first down marker, which seems to happen a couple times every game. 3rd Down and Short (5 yards or less) Pass: No Plays Run: 3 rushes for 31 yards (10.3 ypc) (converted 3 of 3) Combined Season Statistics Pass: 0-2 (converted 0 of 2) Run: 7 rushes for 57 yards (8.1 ypc) (converted 7 of 7) RECAP: I know it doesn't mean the Cats are not 1-2, but they have been able to convert 3rd and short with their running backs 100% of the time so far.