Mark Stoops Bemoans "Inexcusable" Offensive Line Play

The Big Blue Wall that once boasted All-Americans paving the way for record-breaking rushers was a shell of itself in 2022. The Kentucky offensive line has bounced back this fall by showing steady improvement throughout the season, but left their head coach wanting more during the Wildcats’ win over Mississippi State.

“I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, but we need to be better,” Mark Stoops said at Monday’s press conference.

The Bulldogs deploy a 3-3-5 defense that applies pressure from various spots around the defense. It creates confusion that stresses offensive lines across the SEC. That certainly plays a role in the head coach’s frustration, but Stoops expects his group to execute the little things more consistently.

“There’s some things that are — they present some challenges, but some of it was inexcusable,” said Stoops.

“It’s things that we have repped many times, not just in this week. That’s the communication part. It’s inexcusable with the amount of reps that we have on certain targets, and that leads to negative yardage runs when there’s no excuse for it whatsoever.”

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Kentucky Played Under Pressure Too Often at Mississippi State

Kentucky only gained 110 rushing yards on 29 carries and was tackled for loss seven times for -23 yards. Devin Leary did not finish the game due to injury. The Kentucky quarterback was sacked only once and pressured on 11-of-23 drop-backs (47.8% pressure rate). Kaiya Sheron replaced Leary faced pressure on two of his three pass attempts.

What makes those numbers even more disappointing — this was the first time Kentucky played it’s top five offensive linemen together since the first game of the season. The Kentucky offensive line had some early success in spite of the injuries. If they don’t execute and communicate against Alabama’s talented front, it’s going to be a long afternoon for Liam Coen’s offense.

“The penetration — it’s still it’s gonna be there until we get it fixed. We have at times. It wasn’t completely inefficient, but there’s just some things that I was talking about right there that just aren’t excusable,” Stoops said. “I can’t defend it.”

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