WATCH: Coen, Ali and Cox preview bounce back game vs. Tennessee

It has not been a fun November for the Kentucky offense. The Wildcats have been forced to relive a Mississippi State loss that yielded zero offensive touchdowns and four turnovers in nine possessions. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen shouldered much of the blame for the performance and is now looking ahead to Tennessee.

“It’s just we need to score. We need to score points,” said Coen. “I think that just sustaining drives winning early downs, keeping a balance will be a huge key this week.”

The Wildcats actually averaged more than five yards per play on first down and converted 60% of their third downs. Turnovers and second down inefficiency doomed Kentucky from sustaining drives and keeping the Bulldogs’ off the field. That will be significant this weekend against the uptempo Vols. They’re almost as fast on defense as they are on offense.

“They’re definitely fast on defense,” said Coen. “If you look at them from last year to this year, they’ve trimmed up it looks like on the defensive side of the ball, they’re playing a lot more athletic body types. You know, on the edges at the linebacker spots, these guys can really fly around and run around really well. They’ll bring some edge pressure which causes some issues, especially with how fast they are and, and do a nice job with some of their their stunts and twists.”

Returning to the Run

Kentucky has lost its balance. Entering the Georgia game the Wildcats averaged 168.5 rushing yards per game. They’ve totaled less than 120 yards on the ground in the last two losses.

“The focus this week is truly about us getting better and us detailing our work, doing the right things. Every single play matters,” Coen said. “We gotta get back to running the football get back downhill. Last week against Mississippi State, we were trying to run more wide zone and get some of that stuff going, and that team does so much different things. We need to get the running game back, go and get our balance back and I think today was a good start.”

It all starts up front on the Big Blue Wall. Kentucky’s offensive line is taking the last two losses to heart.

“On the Big Blue Wall we pride ourselves on being able to run the ball consistently on anybody,” said Eli Cox. “That’s something we want to get back to get back to our fundamentals, target things right and let Chris do his work.”

How to Bounce Back vs. Tennessee

“First, we have to practice hard” said wide receiver Josh Ali. “Coach Stoops always says don’t turn one into two, don’t turn two into three. Right now, we’re not trying to turn two into three. That really starts in practice with everybody’s energy, just letting everybody know this is a big game. This is one of our rivalries and it’s at home with our crowd. We gotta show everybody what kind of team we are and bounce back.”