Kentucky 'has room for improvement' in offensive tempo

Kentucky’s offense ranks No. 133 nationally in plays per game (55.6). There are 133 teams in FBS. No one moves slower in college football than the Wildcats. The pace of play criticism seems fair after nine games.

In recent weeks, Kentucky has sprinkled in some tempo in an attempt to move faster. That has helped lead to some passing game success for Devin Leary after the quarterback threw for 528 yards and four touchdowns on 8.7 yards per attempt. However, things are still moving at a snail’s pace despite Kentucky ranking No. 10 in points per play (0.54) in games featuring FBS opponents only.

On Monday, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops was asked about this offense’s tempo. The Wildcats need more efficiency in their overall play-calling operation.

“There’s some things there that we just have to work on. Just getting more efficient in calling the plays. Getting the plays called, get to the line of scrimmage,” Stoops said. “There’s a lot of plays where we have shifts and motions and things, and we’re in a bit of a hurry. The plays are getting called with plenty of time.”

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Kentucky is a very pro operation in that the offense huddles a vast majority of the time. By doing that, the Wildcats are willing to go slower than most modern college offenses. Add in the pre-snap shifts, and that creates quite the time crunch. However, there does appear to be the need for some more efficiency in the operation after Coen calls in the play from the booth. For whatever reason, the Wildcats are not getting the play in from the sideline and out of the huddle quickly enough.

“There’s room for improvement,” Stoops said.

The Wildcats have committed to running a pro-style offense. Specifically at quarterback and wide receiver, the program has seen a recruiting upgrade as the pro development sale is being well received by high school and transfer targets. However, a clear argument can be made that the slow pace of play is lowering this offense’s ceiling. Moving forward, Kentucky must figure out how to get in the huddle quicker. If that is not feasible, more no-huddle sets could help speed up the play-calling operation.

The new clock rules have impacted the offense. Five non-offensive touchdowns by the Wildcats have taken away possession. Low efficiency (No. 85 in offensive success rate) has created shorter possessions. All of these things are true, but that does not mean that Kentucky should have the slowest operation in college football.

Kentucky knows that they need to move faster.