Is Rich Scangarello’s Kentucky football offense too complicated? ‘It’s a fair criticism.’

Kentucky offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello may still be adjusting to life in college football, but he has already learned one important lesson about coaching in the Southeastern Conference.

There is little time to dwell on the past before another difficult challenge awaits.

There has been no shortage of criticism directed toward Scangarello’s offense in the wake of a 44-6 loss at Tennessee. That performance was the low point of the season to date for Kentucky but was not the only game in which the Wildcats’ offense struggled to score.

Identifying the mistakes at Tennessee is key to salvaging the final month of the season, but Scangarello and the other offense coaches cannot focus on triage alone. Now, they have to prepare for a Missouri defense that ranks 19th nationally in fewest yards per game allowed (310.6).

“You never can overreact to these situations,” Scangarello said this week. “I think we had very high expectations this year for our team, so you go into a game like that and you build it up. Then it goes completely the way you don’t want it. You play, you put your worst out there. Not your best.

“When that happens, you feel like the world is falling in sometimes, but it is one game. You have to always keep that in perspective.”

That assessment is unlikely to appease the vocal portion of Big Blue Nation calling for change to the Kentucky offense. That group views the season-low 205 yards of offense in Knoxville as the culmination of a recent trend.

Kentucky has failed to break the 20-point plateau in three of the last four games. The Wildcats now rank 97th nationally in points per game (23.9) and 100th in yards per game (352.6).

Quarterback Will Levis threw three interceptions at Tennessee, dropping Kentucky to 103rd in turnovers lost (15). Levis was sacked four times, right in line with Kentucky’s 3.75 sacks allowed per game average, which ranks 123rd of 131 teams in the country. One of Levis’s interceptions came in the red zone, continuing a season-long worry about red-zone production, where Kentucky ranks 92nd in scoring percentage (78.13).

“There are a number of things that need to be tightened up, but it’s amazing how if one or two plays go different early and the energy is a lot different,” Scangarello said. “I’m not saying you’re going to win the game, but you feel a lot different when you walk off the field. Right now, it’s about being confident, playing fearless and attacking every day.”

There is at least some context that supports Scangarello’s don’t-panic message.

Kentucky was without star running back Chris Rodriguez for the first four games due to a suspension related to an eligibility investigation. The season stats include numbers from the South Carolina loss, which featured a vastly scaled back version of the offense with Levis unavailable and redshirt freshman backup Kaiya Sheron making just his second career appearance.

Levis and Rodriguez have been on the field together for just three games. One, the loss at Ole Miss featured a rusty Rodriguez in his return from suspension and saw Levis have to play through finger and foot injuries. Both started at Tennessee, but Rodriguez missed most of the second half due to injury.

The one game with both stars available and as close to 100% as they have been saw Kentucky record its most balanced offensive performance of the season with 239 rushing yards and 239 passing yards in a win over a Mississippi State team that was ranked at the time.

“It’s tricky because if you go back the week before (against Mississippi State), you say the run game is coming along, we’re getting healthy and we’re going to be better in pass protection,” Scangarello said. “You can’t kneejerk, but you have to self-evaluate constantly. You’ve got to make adjustments. It’s based on the health, who we’re playing and where we’re at.”

While Missouri was picked to finish sixth in the SEC East before the season, the Tigers’ recent form suggests they are more than capable of giving a struggling Kentucky offense fits if the Tennessee performance is a sign of larger issues.

The Tigers rank in the top 30 nationally in points allowed (21.5), rushing yards allowed (115.4), passing yards allowed (195.3) and total yards allowed (310.6). Missouri ranks 14th in tackles for loss per game (7.1) and 11th in opponents’ red-zone touchdown percentage (45).

This week, Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz announced a contract extension and raise for defensive coordinator Blake Baker is expected in the next few days.

“I really think they’re playing extremely hard,” Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops said. “They always have some guys up front that are disruptive and play very physical. Their structure is good, and they’re mixing it up. They’re playing very good as a team.”

Missouri enters the game coming off a 23-10 upset of a South Carolina team that beat Kentucky without Levis. It just missed an upset of No. 1 Georgia earlier this season in a 26-22 loss.

Only one team has scored more than 26 points against the Tigers this season.

This is probably not the week for wholesale changes to Kentucky’s offense. If those are to come, the offseason would be a more manageable time frame.

However, sitting idle and simply assume improvement will come seems like a risky option too.

Asked by a reporter about the common fan theory that Kentucky’s offense, which Scangarello brought from the NFL, is too complicated for college players, Stoops seemed to agree at least in part with that suggestion.

“It’s a fair criticism,” Stoops said. “... Why and where and where we’re spending our time and all of those things, we have to look, put our players in a position to be more successful. That’s on us as well.”

Scangarello acknowledged the number of young players in key roles for the offense and the ever-shifting depth chart due to a rash of injuries has led to some confusion at times this season, but he pointed to what the offense viewed as “three great days of practice” before the Tennessee game as evidence the performance might not be so easy to pigeonhole as a product of the scheme being too complicated. After all, Kentucky’s offense last season under coordinator Liam Coen also came from the same NFL coaching tree and was generally successful.

“I don’t believe it’s too complicated, but I believe there is a high attention to detail,” senior left tackle Kenneth Horsey said. “When we play the game without that level of attention to detail, it shows.”

“There’s a lot of times where we have a negative run or something like that, pressure or something like that. It looks like we’re very far off, but when we go back and watch the film we realize it’s always one guy here, one guy not doing the right thing. It’s our job to make sure all five (linemen) are on the same page, communicating with each other, playing physical and just playing their tail off.”

Regardless of the cause, a quick fix to the offense will be needed to avoid the season spiraling even further with a loss at Missouri.

“You cannot overreact to one game, but, yeah, it hasn’t been good enough,” Scangarello said. “It needs to be tighter.”

SATURDAY

Kentucky at Missouri

When: Noon

TV: SEC Network

Records: Kentucky 5-3 (2-3 SEC), Missouri 4-4 (2-3)

This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 11:05 AM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription