Stoops on Kentucky's play count and offensive mistakes

Kentucky’s pace of play has been one of the slowest in college football this season. In the first two games, the Wildcats’ offense ran a combined 112 plays in wins over Ball State and Eastern Kentucky. Mark Stoops and Liam Coen intended to get those numbers up against Akron. Still, Kentucky ran only 49 plays from scrimmage in Game 3 against the Zips (partly because the ‘Cats averaged 12.9 yards per play), dropping all the way to 132nd of 133 teams with an average of 56 snaps per game.

After yet another Saturday with a low number of looks for the offense, Mark Stoops was asked about the play count. He replied, “At half I want to say, you know, we didn’t run very many in the second half, it doesn’t feel like to me. I’m sure it is that way. Part of it, late in the game when we are playing a lot of guys, we are letting them drive a little bit, you know, defensively.

“But offensively, you know, there are no excuses. We are giving up sacks, turnovers, not converting on third downs, not getting enough plays. We have to be more efficient, and that is the bottom line. You will keep drives alive if you don’t. We get the explosive play and, you know, get it down to the 10 and get a fumble, you know, just stuff like that, not good.”

The fumble was a crucial mistake by Jordan Dingle, negating a 50-plus-yard gain down to the goal line. Though costly, Stoops wasn’t too hard on Dingle in his postgame comments because the tight end made an impressive, one-handed grab before losing the ball while trying to fight out of a mob of Akron tacklers.

“I told him it was one heck of a catch,” Stoops said. “We have to be smart when you are dragging guys, you have to tuck it. I couldn’t tell if he had the opportunity after a one-handed catch to tuck it and put it away. Certainly, as you are spinning. I don’t like to see our guys with their backs to defenders.”

Snaps and Sophomore Slumps

The tally of snaps is a talking point, but the actual snapping of the football is a genuine concern. Jager Burton struggled in his third game at center, which led Stoops to admit they will reconsider Eli Cox at center if Burton’s play doesn’t improve.

“We could go either way.”

Regarding Burton, Stoops said, “We’ve had some snap issues that have concerned us, you know, and it is a lot. He is playing a new position, and we are working through that. And, you know, but we can’t do that. We overcame one of them, I believe, with the touchdown at the end of the half.”

Burton isn’t the only slumping sophomore. Dane Key and Barion Brown have also fallen short of the lofty expectations placed on them at wide receiver following their standout freshman seasons. Stoops sees a team effort to get his star WRs going because the problems are more extensive than any individuals.

“You name it. It starts with getting an accurate pass, it starts with protection, which we had protection issues. Once again, I think we had some opportunities that we missed with throws. I’m sure there will be some details, you know, in the routes that they can improve on.

“Again, it is all of us. All of us need to play together for it to function. And there is some frustration there with the offense in general because, you know, you are just not hitting it on all cylinders right now.”

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