Philosophical changes seem needed to fix Kentucky's problems on offense
Mark Stoops has been at Kentucky for a decade. The Wildcats have built a strong defensive culture in Lexington and have consistently been able to run the ball downhill with efficiency. That has led to a lot of wins over the years. However, this is a program that has not often won games with the offense.
In 2016 and 2021 under a first-year offensive coordinator, the Cats scored at least 30 points per game and ranked inside the top 35 in yards per play. Kentucky has not reached the 6.0 yards per play threshold in any other season with Stoops.
Under Rich Scangarello this season, the offense is close to hitting rock bottom. Only the offenses in 2013 (20.5) and 2020 (21.8) have scored fewer points per game under Stoops than in 2022 (23.3). The Cats have also had their worst yards per play number outside of the COVID-19 season since 2020.
To put it bluntly, some overall operation things need to change. Stoops seems willing to take a look at changing things after the season is over.
“I think that’s a very fair question and very true,” Stoops said on Monday when asked about upcoming changes this offseason. “I’ll say this — there’s not one other school that hasn’t gone through that too. I wish there was space in our league and not as good of defensive players.”
“I think that’s a fair question. I’ve thought about it, yes. There are definitely some philosophical things that I have to think through and do think through a lot.”
Most notably, the pace of play seems to be a very big issue. Kentucky ranks No. 117 nationally in total plays (626). Only six power conference teams have gotten off fewer snaps than the Wildcats. Scangarello’s offense has only had more than 70 plays in a game twice this season. That is a dangerous game to play when an offense cannot finish drives.
Heading into Week 12, Kentucky currently ranks No. 95 in red zone touchdown percentage (56.4%) despite creating 3.9 red zone trips per game. At times, this offense has had success moving the football, but it has struggled to finish good opportunities with points. That’s before even getting into the issues with the kicking game.
“When we’re driving the football and you get the ball in the red zone and you have three opportunities and you get six points that’s not good,” Stoops told reporters. “Yeah we’re driving it and we’re moving it but we gotta get it in.”
“When we drive — I think we had a 15-play drive or 16-play drive — and got zero that just seriously helped Vanderbilt.”
Some things need to change again regarding the offensive operation in Lexington. Following the 2020 season, Stoops found a good plan out of the program’s comfort zone when Liam Coen was brought to the SEC to install the wide zone system made famous recently by Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay in the NFL. It worked wonders in 2021, but the magic has disappeared after a coaching change in 2022.
It could be time to go back to the drawing board to figure out what can get Kentucky out of another offensive funk.
Will the changes happen with Rich Scangarello?
Rich Scangarello was not a popular person on Saturday night at sports bars or on Twitter following another disappointing performance from his offense in an SEC game. The Wildcats have yet to score more than 31 offensive points in a game this season and more than 27 points against an SEC team. That has all occurred while facing some bad defenses.
Missouri (No. 57), South Carolina (No. 67), Mississippi State (No. 71), Northern Illinois (No. 93), Florida (No. 108), and Vanderbilt (No. 127) all rank outside of the top 50 in yards per play allowed. Kentucky didn’t score a touchdown against Mississippi State in the first half and needed to hold Florida and Missouri offenses to 33 combined points to leave those contests with wins.
The name of the game is scoring points, and Kentucky is simply not doing that with Scangarello despite having some of the best skill talent personnel of the Stoops era. There is a lot to get corrected.
Simplifying the offense appears to be one of the top goals in the last two weeks of the season. All spring and fall camp, we heard that the unit was behind due to the complexity of the NFL offense that Scangarello was attempting to run in Lexington. However, that is not translating to a team that has a redshirt senior quarterback, tailback, left tackle, tight end, and right guard that have all played a lot of football.
“There are things that we started to do better. And the stuff that we’re not — the things that are confusing or complex or hard — that’s gonna stop,” Stoops told reporters on Monday. “We may get beat, but we’re not gonna beat ourselves. That’s a philosophy I had for a long time starting day one. You can’t beat anybody until you stop beating yourself and we are beating ourselves at times.”
“There are things we could certainly do better. There are things, I don’t want to say is too complex but you have to invest time we don’t have that. So we have to build on the things we have banked. The things we have done that we can carry that are good and the areas where we are not targeting things right and are too complex we gotta toss out.”
Signs seem to be pointing to Scangarello and perhaps even offensive line coach Zach Yenser being on the hot seat. The results are not good enough as this Kentucky coaching staff has struggled to scheme to its personnel’s strengths this year. But this is still Scangarello’s show to run and fix with two home games remaining in the regular season.
“I see some really good things and then I see inconsistency,” Stoops said. “I see things that we have to adjust quicker than we did.”
Kentucky’s offensive coordinator joined the party late getting hired right when spring ball started in Lexington, but points still have to be scored on Saturdays. The offense he has installed in Lexington has not worked, and Will Levis had two of the worst games of his career in the last three outings as the passing game stunk out loud against what were bad passing defenses at Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
“It was probably quick,” Stoops said about Scangarello’s transition back to college. “Again, there’s no excuses. He doesn’t want them, I don’t want them but it was quick. He got here when I was supposed to be in spring ball. So you really don’t have that even offseason to piece things together. It has been quick that way.”
“But he’s also adjusting, and he’s very bright. A smart and good coach. Now he understands that there’s issues going on and things and constantly looking at it. We met for hours yesterday, and everybody on the offensive side and myself and talked through things.”
Kentucky’s offensive staff is still working but time is running out. Eight quarters remain in the regular season until a final decision must be made. Can Scangarello get it fixed? It seems unlikely.
What happens next?
At this point, we are all on Rich Scangarello watch over the next two weeks to see if he can fix any of the problems currently plaguing the Kentucky offense. However, we have 10 games showing us that Kentucky is simply a bad offense with him holding the call sheet both on the sideline and in the coach’s box.
Mark Stoops has some tough decisions to make, and they must happen with efficiency. Due to the fast-paced nature of the transfer portal, critical roster building will start to occur as soon as the season ends after the Governor’s Cup matchup with Louisville. If Kentucky makes a change, a new play-caller will need to arrive soon if a coaching change is made.
Regardless of coaching personnel, Kentucky seems to need a philosophical shakeup. Josh Heupel’s offense is not slowing down at Tennessee. Points will need to be scored to beat the Vols. Billy Napier has a strong play-calling background and has an offense that is getting ramped up at Florida. To knock off the monster at Georgia, Kentucky will need an offense that can score more than three touchdowns in a game. Points need to be scored to win games in the SEC.
The offense is not in a good place at Kentucky. It’s on Mark Stoops to fix it and fix it fast.
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