What to expect from UK offense missing OC, Will Levis, Chris Rodriguez in Music City Bowl
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Music City Bowl preview: Kentucky vs. Iowa
The University of Kentucky football team concludes its 2022 season Saturday against Big Ten rival Iowa in the Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. Click below to view all the stories previewing the game that have been published on Kentucky.com.
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When Kentucky football associate head coach Vince Marrow stepped to the podium for a post-practice news conference this month he wasted no time addressing the predictions for a low-scoring Music City Bowl slugfest.
“We will score points,” Marrow said in his opening statement. “I don’t know how many, but our guys are practicing really hard.”
An offensive assistant predicting his team will score is not normally headline-worthy material, but there are plenty of reasons to worry Kentucky might have trouble doing just that in the bowl matchup versus Iowa.
The Wildcats were not exactly a prolific offense in the regular season, ranking 105th nationally in points per game (22.1) and 107th in yards per game (336.3). The struggles were so dire that offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello was fired after just 12 games on the job.
Scangarello is far from the only departure since Kentucky capped a 7-5 regular season with a rivalry win over Louisville.
Quarterback Will Levis, projected as a likely first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and running back Chris Rodriguez, who ended his career ranked third on UK’s career rushing yards list, both opted out of the game. Four wide receivers, one running back and one tight end — all of whom saw significant snaps as backups — have entered the transfer portal. Tight ends Josh Kattus and Brenden Bates are out with injuries.
Meanwhile Iowa boasts a defense ranked fourth nationally in yards allowed per game (277.9) and sixth in points allowed per game (14.4).
“We have the depth to certainly get through a game,” UK Coach Mark Stoops said. “It will be a little thinner, but it’s one game. We feel very confident in the guys that we have.”
Fans hoping for wholesale schematic changes will probably be disappointed.
There simply was no time in a jam-packed December that saw coaches on the road recruiting for much of the month to drastically alter the system used by Scangarello this season. Instead, a group of offensive coaches led by Marrow and wide receivers coach Scott Woodward have worked together to develop a game plan designed to make the most of the skill sets of the players available.
There could be more quarterback runs when freshman Destin Wade, a dual-threat quarterback rated as a four-star athlete in high school, is in the game. Running back JuTahn McClain is not the same type of bruising rusher as Rodriguez, but he impressed as the Wildcats’ top backup in the regular season and brings added versatility thanks to his pass-catching ability.
Talented wide receivers Barion Brown, Dane Key and Tayvion Robinson remain available. Speedy youngsters Dekel Crowdus, Jordan Anthony and Brandon White will serve as their understudies, offering opportunities for big plays if the UK quarterbacks can get them the ball in space.
“The greatest thing about our offense is that we’ve got Eddie Gran still who was in here,” Marrow said of UK’s former offensive coordinator, who now works as special assistant to the head coach. “So, you can always go in the archives if you’re playing that type of quarterback. … You put a little bit in, you put a little bit of the offense we may have had the previous coordinator we had, and then you go with that.”
Gran’s Kentucky offenses were criticized for being too one dimensional, but he did manage to field a competent attack with wide receiver Lynn Bowden at quarterback in 2019. Wade, Kaiya Sheron and Deuce Hogan all present more capable passing options at quarterback than Bowden did then.
Woodward was brought to Kentucky by Liam Coen, who is expected to return to Lexington as offensive coordinator when his responsibilities with the Los Angeles Rams end at the conclusion of the NFL regular season. His familiarity with Coen’s offense should offer additional opportunities to build upon the system Scangarello used this year.
“Honestly, it’s the same,” Brown said of the offensive approach. “We’re keeping that intensity up. Love my guys, wish they would be playing, but we have a goal. That’s to win the bowl. We’re still preparing like we would any other game, still practicing hard, still taking mental reps, going in the film, watching film, seeing what we can do better.”
Who exactly will call plays for the Kentucky offense remains something of a mystery.
Marrow, who called plays for Kentucky’s 2020 Gator Bowl win over North Carolina State, said the decisions will ultimately be his — telling reporters they could blame him if the plan does not work — but Stoops has spoken of the offensive play-calling as more of a group effort. Quality control coaches Josh Estes-Waugh (quarterbacks) and Mark Perry (running backs) will serve as on-field assistants in the game to fill the holes left when Scangarello and running backs coach John Settle were fired after the regular season finale.
Whoever calls the plays will probably try to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
Iowa, which ranks 123rd nationally in points per game (17.4) and 130th of 131 teams in yards per game (255.4), faces its own offensive challenges. The Hawkeyes are expected to start third-string quarterback Joey Labas in the game against a Kentucky defense that ranks 11th in points allowed per game (19.1) and 17th in yards allowed per game (320.2).
It is unlikely Kentucky’s makeshift offense will need to score in the 30s to win the Music City Bowl, but bowl games are difficult to predict because so much depends on which team shows up with more motivation to play in a game that has few tangible implications beyond bragging rights.
It would be dangerous to draw too many conclusions about Kentucky’s offensive future based on the bowl performance considering all the factors working against the Wildcats, but Marrow insists there is reason for optimism.
“Destin Wade is looking pretty good,” he said. “Getting an opportunity. All three quarterbacks, but Destin stood out to me today. We’ve still got some young talent at receiver. We’ve got talented young tight ends. JuTahn McClain is looking good with his chance to be the starting running back. And the o-line as you keep going you gel more and more. So, I like what I’m seeing out there. It will be interesting.”
Music City Bowl
Kentucky vs. Iowa
When: Noon Saturday
Where: Nissan Stadium in Nashville
Records: Kentucky (7-5, 3-5 SEC), Iowa (7-5, 5-4 Big Ten)
TV: ABC-36
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 20-17 on Jan. 1 in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
