Bombs away! Kentucky rolls with the deep ball in successful season opener.
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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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When Big Blue Nation hit the pillow on Friday night, surely it dreamed of new offensive coordinator Liam Coen scheming up fireworks, receiver Wan’Dale Robinson celebrating a welcome home party and new quarterback Will Levis going, well, bananas in Saturday’s season opener.
Turns out, fantasy can become reality. Levis, the transfer from Penn State, threw for 367 yards and four touchdowns. Robinson, the transfer from Nebraska via Western Hills High School in Frankfort, caught five passes for 125 yards and two scores. And the Wildcats rolled over undermanned Louisiana Monroe 45-10 in the 2021 season opener.
So what did Coen think of his Big Blue debut? Well, first the former Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach had to answer a congratulatory text message from his old boss, Sean McVay. After that, the 35-year-old Coen seemed fairly pleased with the 554 yards of total offense and six touchdowns. Fairly.
“We missed some things,” said the coach.
But not too many things, at least outside of Levis’ first throw when his missile for receiver Josh Ali came in high and hot, bounced off the veteran wideout’s shoulder and into the hands of the Warhawks’ Jabari Johnson for an interception. “We just chuckled about it,” said Levis afterward, shaking his head.
Not to worry. It didn’t take long for Levis to let it fly, hitting a wide-open Robinson with picture-perfect 33-yard pass for a touchdown. On UK’s very next play on its very next series, Levis dialed up the long ball again, connecting with Ali for a 58-yard score right down the middle.
Tweeted former UK and current Tampa Bay Bucs safety Mike Edwards, “Imagine us having this offense my senior year.” And the Cats went 10-3 with a Citrus Bowl win in 2018, his senior year.
By halftime, Levis had thrown for a third touchdown — a 15-yard slant to the 183-pound Robinson, who pinballed his way into the end zone — and was 11 of 16 for 247 yards as the Cats lead 28-7. Heady numbers for a team that never threw for more than 239 yards in a game all of the 2020 season.
That was the reason head coach Mark Stoops decided to part ways with his old friend and offensive coordinator Eddie Gran, hiring Coen to install a less run-dependent, more balanced, pro-style attack. “You guys know what I was looking for,” Stoops said Saturday.
Surely he saw it, what with bullish back Chris Rodriguez rushing for 125 yards on 19 carries — C-Rod’s seventh career 100-yard rushing game. In total, the Cats finished with 34 rushing plays and 33 pass plays. “That’s what we’re looking for,” Coen said.
True, Saturday’s degree of difficulty must be taken into account. Not only did ULM not win a game in 2020, the Warhawks never led. There were 62 new players on 65-year-old coach Terry Bowden’s roster on Saturday. And while veteran offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez schemed up a touchdown drive on ULM’s first possession, the visitors finished with measly 87 total yards on the afternoon.
“Is that correct?” Stoops asked when looking at the stat sheet. “It seemed more aggravating than that.”
First games are first games, after all. Stoops wasn’t happy with his team’s three turnovers. (Recovering its own muffed punt kept UK from a fourth.) There were some communication issues, including one when center Luke Fortner correctly snapped the ball on the first sound when Levis was trying to correct a formation and forgot the ball was supposed to be snapped on the first sound.
“We have a lot of things we need to clean up,” Stoops said.
And the clean-up must happen in a hurry. The Missouri Tigers come to Kroger Field next Saturday night in what promises to be an important early SEC game. Mizzou spanked the Cats 20-10 last year in Columbia. But after Saturday, you might say that was a different Kentucky team, a ground-and-pound club that had yet to discover the potential joy of the forward pass.
Take it from Rodriguez, a running back, “I love this offense.”
Big Blue Nation had to love what it saw Saturday.
Next game
Missouri at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 5:09 PM.
