Kentucky football’s new offense: What worked, what didn’t and what’s next
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Game day: Kentucky 45, Louisiana Monroe 10
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-ULM football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.
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Kentucky’s performance against Louisiana Monroe on Saturday showed that offensive balance, a promise frequently made but rarely delivered over the last few seasons, is still very much achievable in Lexington.
There were 34 rushing attempts to 33 passing attempts, so the run game got the edge in terms of plays called, but the fireworks created by a vertical attack that was so often absent under former offensive coordinator Eddie Gran were on display in Liam Coen’s first game coaching the ball-movers. UK piled up 554 total yards, 419 of them through the air; before Saturday, UK hadn’t had a 400-yard passing game since 2014, when Neal Brown was running the show.
The result: A 45-10 Kentucky mauling of Monroe.
It wasn’t a flawless effort — for starters, the first pass attempt of Will Levis’ UK tenure end in an interception that set up ULM’s only touchdown — but overall, it was a sight for sore eyes across the Bluegrass that had forgotten what a deep ball looked like.
“We worked on ourselves today. We needed to just get better, get game reps, get some confidence,” head coach Mark Stoops said. “I think there’s a lot of people that know we have a lot of good potential, but we have to go out there and play. It was a good start.”
Wide-open
Most striking was just how open UK’s top pass-catchers were on Saturday. Some of that is probably attributable to a talent discrepancy — Southeastern Conference speed is different than Sun Belt Conference speed — but the space in which Kentucky’s receivers had to operate after catching the ball was noticeable compared to past years.
Josh Ali, a “super senior” who led UK with 136 yards on five receptions, had never had a 100-yard receiving game in his four previous seasons. He matched his total touchdown from last year — one — and put UK up for good on a 58-yard bomb from Levis late in the first quarter.
“In practice we’re very efficient, and that’s our goal, for everybody to get open and have choices for Will,” Ali said. “… This was a big reason why I came back.”
He later described the difference between Saturday’s outing and the last couple of seasons for UK’s offense.
“It was a big relief,” Ali said. “It was more fun. I’ve seen the difference in our O-line, just different vibes on the field. I like seeing everybody smiling on the sidelines, and that’s what I saw today.”
Robinson ended with 125 yards and two scores, also on five grabs, while Isaiah Epps — a senior who struggled to get onto the field the last two years because of a foot injury — had 83 yards on three receptions. The last time UK had two 100-yard receivers? In 2011, when Matt Roark and La’Rod King both crossed the century mark against Ole Miss.
Ali and Robinson each had 100 yards by halftime.
Physicality
That Chris Rodriguez was able to bully his way to 125 yards and a touchdown wasn’t surprising. The muscle showed by Ali and Robinson, though, raised eyebrows.
Robinson tried his best to outduel a defender near the sideline after hauling in a 62-yard reception but was eventually brought down. Later on the same drive he delivered a hard shoulder to a safety to get into the end zone. Ali a couple times in the middle of the field was able to turn relatively short catches into bigger gains thanks to his willingness to drive into defender-laden territory.
“That’s something I’ve been working on,” Ali said. “I can be better. There were some plays I could have had more yards on but I was too hesitant in getting up the field.”
Protection
Kentucky’s quarterbacks weren’t hitting the ground every other play, but “The Big Blue Wall” gave up four sacks, including three to end three straight series.
The middle sack of that streak, delivered by preseason All-Sun Belt selection Ty Shelby, blew up a naked bootleg about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The first sack UK surrendered came on the final play of the first half, while the last — against the second-team offense — led to a fumble by Beau Allen that turned into three points for the Warhawks.
Overall, though, Coen said the O-line did “a fairly nice job.”
“As far as operation, in and out of the huddle, communication, I was pleased,” Coen said. “It wasn’t exactly where we 100 percent wanted to be or need to be, but it was solid.”
Levis took the blame for another O-line misfire; a snap delivered by Luke Fortner sailed into the backfield as Levis attempted to audible a formation. Running back Kavosiey Smoke was able to secure it for the Cats, but the Warhawks sacked Levis for a third time on the next play and UK settled for a field goal.
“It was definitely on me,” Levis said. “… I called a play for personnel that didn’t match the personnel on the field, and we were on a speed-break snap count, which is essentially Luke snaps on the first thing he hears. So I break the huddle and I’m like, ‘Oh no, what’s going on?’ … Those are things we just can’t have again and we gotta go back and fix.”
Missouri
It was no accident that UK played with its offensive starters into the fourth quarter. A date with Missouri, which held the Cats to 145 yards of total offense last season in a 20-10 loss, is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Kroger Field. Every rep matters for a new crew.
Coen was encouraged by how well his guys responded after their first drive ended in an interception. Levis said he laughed off the mistake in game — “Of course this is how it starts out,’” he told reporters later — and his play from that point was far from laughable. He finished 18 of 26 for 367 yards and four touchdowns to three different teammates (tight end Brenden Bates caught the last one, which was the first of his career).
Kentucky’s three best skill players — Ali, Robinson and Rodriguez — accounted for 92 percent of its yardage, which wasn’t an accident.
“They’re our dudes, and we need to be able to get them the ball as many times as possible, cause at the end of the day it’s not about X’s and O’s, it’s about G.I. Joes,” Coen said. “… In times of crisis, we need to think ‘players,’ not ‘plays,’ and those guys showed up today.”
Missouri will be better equipped to deal with the Alis and Robinsons of the world than ULM, so UK will need players like Epps and Smoke — who got 16 yards on five carries, to go along with a dropped pass and a fumble — to step up when they’re getting draped by defenders. Coen early in the game tried to mix up personnel groupings, and in the fourth quarter was able to see several second-team guys in real action for the first time.
Among the standouts were Mike Drennen, who scored his first career touchdown on a short handoff from Allen, and Jordan Dingle, a tight end who caught a nice ball in stride on a seam route after Allen delivered it with pressure incoming. It might not be those guys, necessarily, but UK’s going to need as many hands on deck as it can get with SEC play starting six days from now.
“We’ve got a big challenge coming up for us this week,” Coen said. “… We gotta continue to try to balance and mix up personnel groupings to keep the defense off balance.”
Next game
Missouri at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 7:36 PM.
