Mark Stoops assesses state of Kentucky rushing attack through two weeks

The bread and butter of the Kentucky offense since the arrival of Mark Stoops has been running the football. The Wildcats were unafraid to rush, rush and rush some more offensively. However, their offensive philosophy has changed in the last two seasons. The additions of Will Levis as well as new coordinators have made them a heavier passing team than they were. Still, Stoops says he still believes in what the run game can do for them.

Stoops talked about the lack of rush production thus far during his press conference Monday. He said the game worked out to where possessions were all over the place and so they didn’t really establish the run until late against Florida.

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“That’s what you’re gonna get sometimes. That’s an NFL style. We had 60-some plays. 63 or 64 plays? I mean we had a lot more possessions fortunately because defensively we got off the field a lot,” said Stoops. “The longest possession they had I want to say was seven plays until the very end so that’s very good. We were getting the ball back and so we had more possessions, but still not a lot of plays and that’s okay.”

The biggest issue towards Kentucky’s rushing attack has been the absence of Chris Rodriguez. With that said, he’ll be back soon when the Wildcats go to Oxford in two weeks. Still, with the current losses of Ramon Jefferson and JuTahn McClain, Kavosiey Smoke and La’Vell Wright have had to carry quite a load through two games.

Stoops was happy to see what their rushing did to end the game against the Gators. They chewed up the clock, kept possessions alive, and drove the Gator defense crazy by continuing to put up yards.

“From many years of being a defensive coach, aggravating yards are aggravating yards…You may look at the stat sheet and not be blown away, not be wowed,” said Stoops. “However, when you’re getting five yards, six yards like we did in the second half, that pisses you off as a defensive coordinator and keeps you off balance.”

It’s not often that Kentucky’s run game has been the weakest part of their offense under Mark Stoops. That should change here soon, though, when Rodriguez returns and other backs return from injury. With that layer of their offense soon to return to form, Rich Scangarello’s offense will only get that much deeper as the Wildcat’s season presses on.