Kentucky Offense: "When it does click, it's going to be special"

Kentucky saw an immediate offensive resurgence in the first two games under Liam Coen’s tutelage. Since then, it hasn’t been all roses, but the Kentucky offensive coordinator believes the Cats are close to making it click.

The Wildcats opened the season by averaging 40 points and 542 yards in wins over ULM and Missouri. Kentucky has not surpassed 30 points since, down to just 5.2 yards per play over the previous three games. The improved level of competition certainly plays a factor, but something has just felt off. Coen believes they are close to steering the ship back on course.

“After five games you evaluate where you’re at and where you’re going and I couldn’t be more happy and proud of the way these guys have played. It’s going to click. I keep telling them it’s going to click,” Coen said following Tuesday’s practice.

“It’s clicked at times. We’ve shown flashes in multiple different games, different situations, whether it be red zone or third down. We’ve been very good and we also haven’t been very good. When it does click, it’s going to be special. Just stay the course. It’s going to click. When you’re 5-0 it is tough, but it’s actually better for us because we aren’t sitting there 5-0 like we’re just all good. We’re sitting there 5-0, hungry to get it right.”

How does Kentucky get the offense to click? To take the next step, it’s all about the little things.

“Just focus on details, hammer out details, a lot of small things, especially with Coach Coen’s offense,” said offensive tackle Darian Kinnard. “Everything has a purpose, every little intricate step, every minute block, everything has its purpose. If one things out of whack, it kind of throws it all off. We’re just going to be focused on working those out, getting right, getting ready and continue being physical. That’s what we do up front on the O-line is showing everybody we’ve got fight in us too. We’ve got some dog. That’s what we’ll keep doing.”

To illustrate how one little thing can make a play go awry, former Wildcat Van Hiles broke down what went wrong on a third down. Kentucky was just 1-of-8 on third down against Florida. If JuTahn McClain holds his chip block for an extra second, Kentucky could have moved the chains and advanced into scoring territory.

It was there… pic.twitter.com/mgnBIqkfNL

— Van Hiles (@vstyles17) October 4, 2021

The Kentucky offense knows there is more in the tank. They’re motivated to get everything to click to reach their ultimate goal.

“We got a lot more coming. It’s bigger than what it looks like right now,” said running back Kavosiey Smoke. “Just keep going. We’re going to keep going for sure. We gotta get to Atlanta. That’s our only focus right now.”

Kentucky Still Embraces Underdog Role

If I told you before the season that Kentucky would be a 3-point favorite over LSU, you would have been shocked. Kinnard was when we told him the Cats were giving points.

“I didn’t know we were the favorite. That’s news to me because we’ve always been the underdogs ever since I’ve been here and I’ve always liked it that way. I still look at every game that way. A lot of the games we play, we never really had the respect we’ve been given. Even after the Florida game we still didn’t get our respect. I think that’s still the mindset of a lot of people around the country. I feel like I’m going to keep that on our shoulders, I know the linemen will too, and we’re just going to keep showing what we do.”