What’s holding back Kentucky’s offense? It’s complicated.

After Kentucky gashed Mississippi State for 300 yards, including 229 yards on the ground, Cats star Benny Snell was asked what it meant to “out-physical a physical team” like the Bulldogs.

The junior running back paused for a second to explain how physical UK wants to be.

“We run it down their throat over and over and over and over and over again until they’re tired and can’t take it,” said Snell, who ran for 165 yards and four touchdowns in that victory.

“That’s one thing this offense is good at. We’re able to keep running and keep pounding.”

It definitely looked that way for the Cats near the end of September. After five games, UK was unbeaten and on its way to a high ranking.

After the Tennessee loss on Saturday, Snell was asked the question that many have wondered in recent weeks. Are teams defending Kentucky differently, especially the run?

“Yeah, they’ve been defending it differently,” he said. “They’ve been loading the box. I mean, from now until the beginning of the year, but that really shouldn’t matter to me.”

But it has mattered, not just in the rushing numbers overall, but also in the grand scheme of the offense, which has had far fewer explosive plays in the last five games, offensive coordinator Eddie Gran lamented.

It’s also meant that UK can’t put together sustained drives to wear down opponents and eat up the clock, head coach Mark Stoops said.

A deep dive into Kentucky’s offensive numbers — looking at both explosive plays this season and long drives — show the Cats are lacking in both areas.

Explosive drop-off

The big focus for the offense last spring was doing a better job of creating explosive plays, which is what the Kentucky coaches call a pass of 17 yards or more or a run of 12 yards or more.

Two seasons ago, UK produced a so-called explosive play every seven plays. Last season, it dropped to one every nine plays, which is key because historically if there’s an explosive play in a drive, there’s a much higher chance of scoring, Cats coaches have explained.

This season, Kentucky is somewhere in between, averaging 8.1 explosive plays per game. In the first five games, it was a sizzling-hot explosion every 5.9 plays.

In these last five games, it’s been one in every 13.5 plays. It’s been especially noticeable in the run game. Kentucky had as many run plays of 12 or more yards against Mississippi State and Florida (nine in each game) as it has had in the last five games combined.

The math isn’t helped by the zero explosive run plays in losses to Texas A&M and Georgia.

Against the Bulldogs, UK managed four explosive pass plays, but three came on the final drive.

Stoops’ desire for more long, sustained drives and Gran’s desire for more explosion from the offense are not mutually exclusive.

“We need more explosive plays and they need to go together, and when you sustain a drive, finish,” Gran said. “But absolutely, we have to create those.”

Does Kentucky have the players on offense to do it?

“Yeah, I think we do. I really do. I think we do,” Gran said.

‘Fixable’ problems

Kentucky’s offensive coordinator returned to a familiar theme in recent weeks about every problem coming down to one guy making a mistake.

The problem is it’s never the same guy messing up.

“Plays here and there we’re missing are really killing us right now,” tight end C.J. Conrad said. “We weren’t doing those things at the beginning of the year.

“Nothing’s changed with what we’re running. We’re calling the same plays and calling the right plays. Plays we were making at the beginning of the year, right cuts, right blocks, we were making those things. Last two or three games we haven’t.”

The senior called it “small stuff that’s really fixable.”

It goes back to detail and execution, things UK has been trying to fixate on this week especially.

“Quarterback on time, we’ve got somebody open and then we have a breakdown in protection,” Gran said. “Next time it’s the quarterback. Next time it’s the receiver. It’s not acceptable. That’s got to be fixed now.”

For his part, new Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson said he is working to become more confident in his reads, in seeing what a defense is giving him.

“Just being confident with what I’m seeing and what I’m supposed to do and just trust it,” Wilson said. “It’s a lot of stuff that happens before a play you have to see. Learning all these defenses and seeing all these things, I’ve just got to be confident in what I’m seeing and just let it rip, trust my instincts.”

Sometimes it’s about momentum and attitude, too.

Sometimes it’s about finding a way to get the swagger back.

“It’s a mentality,” Gran said. “We’re getting it fixed. … They’ve got to have hunger.”

Capable of better

The goal needs to be to use those explosive plays to create longer drives, Stoops said Monday. On the season, UK has managed just 13 drives of 10 or more plays.

And both coaches are stressing finishing those drives, something that has plagued the Cats all season long.

Of Kentucky’s 111 drives for the offense (not including when the Cats have intentionally run out the clock on a half or the game), 23 percent of those have ended badly with a turnover, a missed field goal or a loss of downs.

All of these problems combined have equaled an offense that hasn’t been doing everything Kentucky’s players and coaches believe it’s capable of doing.

Kentucky isn’t perfect, but it’s striving to be, Stoops said on his radio show Monday night.

“There’s so many moving parts,” he explained. “We know ultimately it comes down to being who we are; the recipe we’ve had to win seven games has been a physical football team with a chip on its shoulder that plays fundamentally sound and that executes.”

Saturday

Middle Tennessee at Kentucky

Noon (SEC Network Alternate)