Liam Coen looks to up the tempo with Kentucky offense

Mark Stoops made it clear it was “hard to get in a rhythm” during Kentucky’s season-opening victory vs. Ball State, the Wildcats running just 51 plays overall after some early offensive setbacks and the defense allowing drives to be extended. They got 61 plays off in week two against Eastern Kentucky — better, but more of the same with self-inflicted errors.

112 total plays through two weeks ranks dead last in the SEC and Power Five, along with fourth-worst in the nation overall. The flow has to improve, and Stoops believes that will come with time.

“I think we are still taking some time and the overall procedure will continue to improve. You know, there were opportunities left out there as well,” he said following Kentucky’s 28-17 win over EKU. “And when we missed some throws and killed some drives, you are leaving some things out there that we will improve on.”

Minimizing pre-snap penalties, negative plays, misfires and drops will obviously help.

“I think (the offensive operation) would (look faster) when you’re not going backward,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said.

But could a change of pace help, the Wildcats picking things up with tempo? Coen believes so, and if it means getting those total play numbers up, he’s going to give it a shot.

He’ll admit college football’s new running clock rule — no stoppages after first downs — has been an adjustment. The Wildcats, though, are working through it.

“I think that we do need to play with some more tempo, whether it’s off an earned first down, be able to go and get in there,” Coen said Wednesday. “It’s just about plays at this point. I didn’t think it would hurt us this much in terms of the amount of plays we’re able to get off at times with the running clock and things like that.

“When you’re wasting some possessions early on, I don’t want to just go tempo when we didn’t score four times in a row we’ve touched the ball, I’m trying to settle the guys in and ultimately give us a better chance to execute. But I do think that there’s a place and time for a little bit more tempo just to try to let us run more plays.”

There isn’t a blanket fix for Kentucky’s early offensive woes — not to say 36.0 points and 384.0 yards per game with 6.86 yards per play is bad, obviously. But slow to fire on all cylinders? Fair. That just comes with experience adapting to and making the most of the new rules. Figuring out how to run more plays and maintain efficiency in a tighter game window.

The Wildcats scored zero points with 2.94 yards per play in the first six possessions vs. EKU. To close out the win? 28 points and 12.3 yards per play in the final four drives.

What changed? Exactly what Coen is hoping to do from start to finish moving forward: find a rhythm with tempo.

“We kind of got into a rhythm, coach (Liam) Coen wanted to hit them with a little bit of tempo,” Devin Leary said. “In the past, a lot of the offense I’ve run is no-huddle tempo, so it’s a little bit of what I’m comfortable with. But at the end of the day, whatever he calls, however he wants the offense to operate, it’s my job to run it smoothly. It was good to see us get a little bit of rhythm and tempo in the second half and put some points on the board.”

It starts with two halves of it vs. Akron on Saturday.