Kentucky's Offensive Playcalling Trends (Through Week Two)

Obviously, the Kentucky offense was not particularly sharp against Eastern Kentucky and improvement is a must as we creep towards SEC play. The way the offense has performed the first two games might be good enough to beat Akron, and maybe Vanderbilt, but when Florida comes to town it won’t be. But as I did last week, I am trying to determine if we are seeing trends in the play-calling of this Liam Coen offense.

We all would love to see a greater urgency to the offense and more consistent production. But can we see what the Cats are “trying” to do so far? A breakdown:

1ST DOWN

Against Eastern Kentucky
Passing Plays: 8-12, 85 yards, 1 TD
Running Plays: 15 rushes for 80 yards

Combined Season Stats
Passing Plays: 18-28, 230 yards, 2 TD, 1 sack allowed
Running Plays: 22 rushes for 94 yards

Breakdown: 27 plays for 165 yards for the UK offense. You’d take that on a yards-per-play basis. But against EKU much of that yardage came in chunks. There were a bunch of rushing plays for 3 yards or less, especially in the first half. The passing game was efficient and has been in both games. All told, Coen has seemed to lean more towards the pass than the run on 1st down. Against EKU, it leaned heavily on the pass until the 2nd half, when UK was nursing a lead.

2ND DOWN

Against Eastern Kentucky
Passing Plays: 10-15, 158 yards, 2 TD
Running Plays: 6 rushes for 47 yards

Combined Season Stats
Passing Plays: 15-25, 215 yards, 2 TD
Rushing Plays: 14 rushes for 144 yards, 2 TD

Breakdown: The UK offense was its most explosive on 2nd down, especially in the passing game. Over 10 yards per pass and 15 yards per completion. This was following a subpar performance through the air against Ball State. And the rushing attack flipped the other way. Very explosive against Ball State and fairly mediocre against EKU. Nonetheless, UK has been really good on 2nd down so far this season.

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3RD DOWN AND LONG (6 Yards or More)

Against Eastern Kentucky
Passing Plays: 4-9, 43 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (converted 3 of 9)
Running Plays: No Plays

Combined Season Stats
Passing Plays: 6-12, 68 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (converted 4 of 12)
Rushing Plays: 2 rushes for -1 yards, 1 QB scramble (converted 0 of 2)

Breakdown: Halfway through the 3rd quarter Saturday, UK was 0 for 6 in these situations. Abysmal. They turned it around to convert their last 3 and salvage things a little bit. But the bigger problem is that, so far this season, 14 of the 20 3rd downs the UK offense has faced have been 6 yards or more. They are having explosive plays on 1st and 2nd down but they are also having a lot of plays go for 3 yards or less. They pair those together and you get a bunch of 3rd and longs. No matter how good you are, that is a losing formula.

3RD DOWN AND SHORT (5 Yards or Less)

Against Eastern Kentucky
Passing Plays: 2-2, 13 yards (converted 2 of 2)
Running Plays: No Plays

Combined Season Stats
Passing Plays: 3-4, 27 yards (converted 3 of 4)
Rushing Plays: 2 rushes for 8 yards (converted 2 of 2)

Breakdown: Only faced two of these situations against EKU but did convert them both. Still anxious to see if the UK offense can convert key 3rd-and-short situations on the ground like they have done so often with Benny Snell, Chris Rodriguez, and Lynn Bowden over the last 5 years. They haven’t really faced that dilemma yet in 2023 and might not against Akron. But it is coming soon.

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