Despite 377-yard, three-score effort, Will Levis expects more

Most quarterbacks would be thrilled to have a 377-yard, three-score performance in a 31-0 victory to move to 3-0 on the year. Will Levis is not like most quarterbacks.

Following Kentucky’s blowout victory over Youngstown State on Saturday, Levis made it clear he wasn’t pleased. Certainly not content. Despite finishing with the highest single-game completion percentage (77.1%) by a UK quarterback (min. 35 attempts) since Dusty Bonner in 1999 (85%), the Wildcat gunslinger is focused on the misses — particularly his two picks.

He did some good things, sure, but Levis says it just wasn’t enough.

“We hold ourselves to high expectations,” Levis said after the win. “I think that’s a testament to our culture and where we see ourselves, where I see myself. I mean, I played decent today, but I made some plays that shouldn’t have happened. I’m the one to think about the bad ones as opposed to the good ones. I’ll watch the tape and then put it behind me, just like the rest of the team will.

“We just have to approach every week looking to improve and go out there and put our best performance out there week in and week out.”

It comes down to the points left on the field for Levis, with the Wildcats scoring on just five of 11 drives, four being touchdowns. Two punts, two interceptions and one fumble for the offense. The defense continued to rack up stops and big plays, but the offense struggled to return the favor.

“We know where we can get better and we’re showing flashes again. This just was not good enough, especially how the defense played,” Levis said. “They’re getting the ball back for us over and over and over again, and we are just not finishing drives. Again, just the good things we did, we should have been doing a lot more.”

It was also a missed opportunity to get the reserves much-needed reps to close out the game.

“Mostly disappointed just because of the guys that got in there for that last drive,” he said. “I mean, you don’t want to think or assume (role) guys will be able to get in at the end of every game, but we need to work harder with the ones to make sure when opportunities arise like that, we can get them those valuable reps. I’m disappointed we weren’t able to do that for them.”

Head coach Mark Stoops saw the same mistakes and made it clear there are areas for improvement. With a better run game — Chris Rodriguez’s return will certainly help — and better protection up front, though, some of those issues may solve themselves.

“Offensively, Will did some really good things,” Stoops said. “There are a few plays here and there that he wishes he could have over, maybe not his best. We gotta play better around him and it starts with being physical, moving the line of scrimmage, and running the ball downhill.”

Like Levis and Stoops, offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello saw both good and bad with his starting quarterback’s play. Through the highlight plays, there were issues with mechanics and decision-making. He also wants to see Levis avoid unnecessary hits while on the run, something the veteran quarterback has embraced since he first arrived in Lexington.

“I thought there were some really good plays and I thought there were a couple of poor decisions by him,” Scangarello said. “The first pick, I don’t know, I’ve got to see the film. Maybe the wideout didn’t keep coming. The second one, I thought he made a mistake. The read was right, he just didn’t step up in his throw, he backpedaled away. He knows that, we talked on the sidelines. He was very upset with himself.

“I thought he made some spectacular plays and some where he could’ve avoided hits, which we’ve talked about. He’s got to do a better job with that.”

Levis agrees.

“It’s me having good footwork, carrying out my fakes, which I can do a better job at,” he said.

For Stoops, it comes down to consistency for the entire offense. It hasn’t been pretty to start the season, but he’s confident things will get cleaned up sooner rather than later.

“You saw again at times today just too much inconsistency and that’s the bottom line, I think,” Stoops said. “Offensively, just inconsistent. So we’ll continue to work on it and address it and I’m confident we will continue to improve and get it ironed out.”

A 31-point shutout win, but still not satisfied. Not a bad spot to be in.