Is it a quarterback or wide receiver issue for the Kentucky passing game?

On one end, Kentucky has been plenty good in multiple areas through two games — enough to be a few plays away from beating a top-20 SEC foe this past weekend. “We did a lot of good things against a very good football team, a team that has every opportunity to make it to the playoffs,” Mark Stoops said of the Wildcats’ effort against Ole Miss. “We played them very, very good in a lot of ways.”

He’s right. The defense has been strong, if not dangerous. The running backs are plenty good with two of the top-10 producers in the SEC coming out of week two. It’s not the Big Blue Wall necessarily, but the offensive line has been much improved, and the special teams unit has been consistent.

The bad, though, has been really bad — and why the pessimism outweighs the optimism overall going into week three. Kentucky’s passing attack has been an attack of bubbles or marshmallows, not legitimate firepower, led by Zach Calzada. And it’s not just the quarterback, either. The wide receivers were invisible in the opener, then inconsistent in the SEC opener, separation being an issue in both.

Stoops says both sides are to blame and it all must be fixed.

“It’s something that’s a little bit of everything,” he said Monday evening during his call-in radio show. “I think there are windows there, there is some separation that the quarterbacks aren’t seeing and hitting. … Then other times, the receivers are maybe not getting the separation that we need. It’s definitely an issue that we’re addressing and need to get better.”

He sees both sides of it. The SEC is a different animal, and the defenses specialize in making quarterbacks’ lives miserable. They’re bigger, faster and stronger than everywhere else in the world outside the NFL, so sometimes separation just isn’t thre. Or it is there, but mistakes happen.

“When I’m watching the film, a lot of times I will give the quarterback the benefit of the doubt, because there are some big dudes coming at them, and sometimes the windows are not there. You could very easily see the receiver having some separation and you want the ball delivered, but sometimes there’s some big dudes in your face and they don’t get to see it.”

Other times, the windows are there because they create separation conceptually, even against elite defensive backs.

“The quarterback making the decision, stepping up in the pocket, throwing it when it’s there,” Stoops said. “… I said going into the game that the receivers had to step up and make tough, competitive catches, and we had some opportunities. Other times, we just fell short or didn’t deliver on the football. … You put all that together, and we’re just falling short.”

When the opportunities are there — and they have been — you have to take advantage. That’s why Stoops is frustrated in 272 total passing yards and zero touchdowns in four halves of football to open the season.

“One play in particular stands out (against Ole Miss). We get the interception, we run it on first down. Think we get a penalty. We’re down on maybe the 15, and we call a quick game, and it’s there,” he said, talking specifically of Calzada. “I mean, it’s on first down. We have an opportunity to gain yards, the windows are there and the sight lines are there. He looks at it and he doesn’t throw it and takes a sack. Now that’s frustrating.”

Those are throws he’s shown he can make in practice, converting over and over throughout fall camp. It’s just not translating to game action, for whatever reason.

The good news? It’s all fixable. The bad news? The clock is ticking — and he’s got a former four-star nipping at his heels.

“Zach has done that all through camp. He has the arm to step up in the pocket and deliver the football at times. We’re just not as consistent as we need to be. Cutter (Boley) is going to have an opportunity, and I trust that he’ll do it as well. Zach sometimes, just technically, he’s stepping back in the pocket instead of up in the pocket.

“Those are all things that are correctable, but we’ve got to get it corrected in a hurry.”