Coen, UK Offense Hoping Balance Returns
Over the past two games, the Kentucky offense has gotten away from something that offensive coordinator Liam Coen always out of his unit. It’s a word he used over and over during his press conference on Tuesday. And it’s always his goal.
Balance.
After falling behind against both Georgia and Mississippi State, the Cats were forced to go away from the ground game and put the ball in the air almost exclusively. That makes it tough to move the ball, since the defense knows what’s coming.
“It just spiraled, then you end up having to throw the ball for the rest of the game to stay in it,” Coen said. “The turnovers really got us off of our balance. We got off balance and that’s definitely something that can affect your whole game plan. Those things can happen but that’s obviously not the plan in any week.”
And that’s not a recipe for success.
“You lose your balance when you’re not getting it going,” Coen said. “We had the ball for five minutes and 40 seconds in the second half. Once we threw the picks and had the turnovers early in the second half, it now becomes a throw game. Going into the half, I wasn’t planning on throwing the ball as much as we had to in the second half.”
This week, Coen has his unit paying close attention to ever detail.
“The focus this week is truly about us getting better and us detailing our work, doing the right thing,” Coen said. “Every single play matters. Efficient. Get back to running the football, get back downhill. We need to get the run game back going and get our balance back.”
Coen and the Cats hope that balance will coincide with a return home this week. Kroger Field is sold out as the Cats host Tennessee, a team that Coen knows will pose a different set of issues.
“They’re fast. They’re definitely fast on defense,” Coen said. “They’re playing a lot more athletic types on the edges at the linebacker spots. They will bring some edge pressure.”
Coen hopes that his team can get back to doing what it does best.
“I do believe we’ll get back to running our normal offense,” Coen said. “The last couple of weeks, these defensive structures just don’t let you do everything you want to do.”
Offensive lineman Eli Cox also thinks it’s important for the Cats to get back to running the ball.
“That’s something in the Big Blue Wall, we pride ourselves on being able to run the ball consistently on anybody,” Cox said. “And so that’s something we want to get back to.”
It’s a bottom-line game, and Coen knows that his unit ultimately has one job.
“We need to score. We need to score points regardless,” Coen said. “I think that sustaining drives, winning early drives and keeping our balance will be a huge key this week.”
Coen and the UK offense hope that getting that balance back will help the Cats return to the win column this week.
