Tired of being close, goal for Kentucky Offense is to get comfortable

There’s a saying about horseshoes and hand grenades and right now it applies to the Kentucky offense, particularly in first halves.

A strength of the offense during Liam Coen 1.0, it has not carried over into the start of the 2023 season. In week one a promising drive was stalled by a drop. In the opening series against EKU the Cats had third and inches, until an offensive lineman jumped early and a false start derailed a quick start.

“It’s led to a certain level of frustration within the offensive group,” Eli Cox said Wednesday. “We’re always this close, we’re always that close. We’re just trying to come along. Don’t let yourself be that guy that keeps us from being one play away, so we’re all firing on all cylinders because it takes all 11 (players). If one guy busts a route or one guy busts a protection, Barion can run the best route and it can be the best throw, but if we have a mix up on protection with us in the back, what does it matter? It’s all about being on the same page.”

The frustration was felt when the Kentucky coaches watched the tape from the 28-17 win over Eastern Kentucky. The team is straining to be perfect and it’s having the opposite effect on the group’s execution.

Kentucky Offense Keeping it Simple

Occam’s razor tells us the simplest solution is often the best. That’s why Liam Coen is keeping it simple this week with a lower volume of plays ready to roll against Akron.

“Let these kids go play, let them have fun, go play free and that’s probably the message we looked at off the film,” Coen said.

Kentucky isn’t just keeping it simple with its calls. It also means playing less players on a given drive.

“I think staying in one personnel grouping maybe a little bit longer (can help),” said Coen. “We’re constantly trying to get people involved and mix personnels on almost every play. But that also slows down the operation. We can play tempo without going no-huddle by just staying in a personnel grouping for more than a play at a time and letting the guys settle in, letting them play a little bit more within that personnel grouping. That will also allow us to get more comfortable and play with a little more tempo.”

Kentucky’s tight ends and running backs are versatile enough to master multiple tasks in a given drive. Saturday night the coaching staff plans on giving the players a little more rope to get comfortable and execute at Kroger Field.

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