Missed opportunities put Kentucky offense behind once again

The Kentucky defense gave up 49 points and 444 total yards against No. 8 Alabama, the Tide earning 17.8 yards per completion and 6.9 yards per play in the 28-point route. A perfect 5-5 in the red zone with seven touchdowns, 7-11 on third down, essentially zero pushback from the opening kick. Par for the course this season against opposing offenses with a pulse.

And though the offense found the end zone three times — something just two other teams have done this season (Texas and LSU) — Liam Coen’s unit didn’t do the Wildcats any real situational favors in the loss. Kentucky responded to Alabama’s 10-play, 80-yard opening touchdown drive with a quick three-and-out. Given a short field, the Tide responded with a quick four-play, 55-yard touchdown drive to go up 14-0. Then fumble by Barion Brown on the very next play gave the ball back to Nick Saban’s offense at the one — an immediate touchdown.

You could’ve gotten whiplash from how quickly UK found itself down 21-0 in the first quarter.

“Any time you dig yourself a hole, it’s hard to truly come out of it,” Coen said following the loss.

Missed opportunities crush Kentucky

A few opportunities presented themselves. A muffed punt put the Wildcats in scoring position, capitalizing with a touchdown from Devin Leary to Tayvion Robinson to make it 21-7. Kentucky later found itself at the Alabama 9 in the second quarter, but turned the ball over on downs on a failed 4th and 2 attempt. Then after coming up with an interception, Devin Leary threw one of his own. Forced three-and-out, just 18 yards to show for it — again, no points.

Instead, the Wildcats went into the half down 28-7 against a national powerhouse and the greatest college football coach of all time. They managed to show some fight out of the break, chipping away on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to make it 28-14, but followed it up with back-to-back three-and-outs.

“I thought our kids tried to respond the right way, had some good things, made some good plays,” Coen said. “But at the end of the day, it just wasn’t consistent enough.”

Offense can’t overcome slow start

As bad as the numbers look on paper, Coen believes the defense actually did enough to stay competitive. The offense just didn’t hold up its end of the bargain early before the wheels fell off completely.

“When you get that fourth down opportunity, we don’t execute on the fourth down. Then we get the interception, but get no points out of that drive. That’s just frustrating, really frustrating,” Coen added. “You go down 28-7, take the first drive of the second half and go down and score to make it 28-14.

“We just struggled to play complementary football at the moment. I thought those guys did enough defensively to help us win the game, we just didn’t do enough offensively, specifically in the second quarter.”

“No excuses.”

Complementary football. Execution. Missed opportunities.

Those are early buzzwords you hear from most college football programs as they look to knock off the rust before the meat and potatoes of the schedule. The complete games eventually come.

Yet here we are. Two regular season games to go and we’re still talking about putting together a complete 60-minute effort. Considering the preseason expectations and potential, it’s just not good enough.

“Frustrating. Very. It is, there really aren’t any other words for it,” Coen said. “It’s our job to get it right. Clearly, we’re not doing a good enough job from that standpoint. You can’t put your finger on it without watching tape, but there are no excuses. It just didn’t get done.”

So how do you differentiate elite players making elite plays for a College Football Playoff contender and self-inflicted errors on Kentucky’s part? This game proved it doesn’t solely come down to Jimmies and Joes — it’s not as simple as ponying up for wins. You’ve got to find the opportunities as they come. They were there for the taking against Alabama to remain competitive, at minimum.

Just couldn’t take ’em.

“It’s a fine line. You don’t want to make any excuses for preparation and gameplan, play-calling — there are no excuses for that not being up to the standard at which we’re held at and I’m held at,” Coen said. “You know there are gonna be some one-on-one matchups that may not win. But you know there are gonna be some opportunities to win and we’ve got to take advantage of them. We can’t turn the ball over against a tough team like this.

“Ultimately, it’s on me. The guys, I feel terrible for them.”