Kentucky ranks last in college football in plays per game

Tom Hart mentioned it on the broadcast, but it bears repeating in blog post format: Kentucky ranks last in the country when it comes to the number of plays run per game. Out of 133 FBS schools in play college football, the Wildcats rank 133rd with only 55.3. More incredibly, this is almost three full plays less than the 132nd-ranked team, New Mexico State, who average 58 per game.

Even Iowa, who literally put a point-scoring clause in their coach’s contract due to their historic offensive ineptitude, ranks 131st with 58.1 plays per game.

For perspective, Kentucky’s abysmally low plays per game stat would rank dead last in every college football season since at least 2003, when statisticians first began tracking it. The new timing rules this season make this comparison a little unfair, as plays per game across the NCAA have been down, however, 55.3 plays per game is horrendously low, no matter what clock rules are in place.

Part of this is to be expected, as Liam Coen’s pro-style offensive is light years different than the Air Raid attack of the Hal Mumme years, however, at some point, there has to be a balance between play-calling quality and play-calling quantity.

What has factored into slow play?

It is easy to look at a mere 55.3 plays per game and immediately translate it to a slow, poor offense. However, one positive contributor to this stat has been Kentucky’s pension for explosive plays. You know, back when they were winning games.

Even when Kentucky ran all over Florida on their way to an impressive victory, they only executed 55 offensive plays. Against, Akron, a game where Kentucky put up 35 points, the ‘Cats ran just 49 plays from scrimmage. In these wins, Kentucky had several explosive plays, ripping off 50+ yard scores. While great for the points total and in-the-moment excitement, they also hurt the plays-per-game stat.

Defensive touchdowns, for which Kentucky has multiple this season, also contribute to fewer plays per game. They also have a special teams touchdown to erase an offensive possession, so this stat is not all doom and gloom.

However, the biggest area where Kentucky has struggled has been sustaining drives. It has either been boom or bust, with an explosive play or a three-and-out so much this season. Either way, the Wildcat offense has not been able to stay on the field, putting that much more pressure on the defense.

Stoops recognizes the slow play

Mark Stoops recognized this slow-play trend early on and addressed it with the press. After the Eastern Kentucky game, Stoops said:

Offensively we’re pro-style. We are looking at things still to expedite the play-calling, the operation and getting out there. Liam (Coen), he’s harder on himself than anybody is. He’s always been that way. His first go-round here, there’s many times early and people think I’m high-strung, you know what I mean? I’m like dude, we’re gonna be okay. Just stay the course, stay with it, stay positive because he’s very hard on himself. I think it’s different with the clock and play-calling and with us being pro-style, sometimes the game can go quick.”

Mark Stoops | KSR

For what it’s worth, on Saturday against Missouri, the ‘Cats ran 62 plays. If that was Kentucky’s average, they would rank 122nd in college football in this category.

Ultimately, faster play doesn’t necessarily equate to better play, but when you’re this much of an outlier compared to every other team in the country, a change in strategy may be in order.