Kentucky Offense Preparing for Road Test at Ole Miss
Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan saw his team make some strides in UK’s 41-6 win over Ohio on Saturday. After watching the tape, Hamdan knows that his unit did some good things in Saturday’s contest.
“It was good to see the plays being made,” Hamdan said. “Third down situations, the fourth down conversions, guys making big plays in big moments was a step in the right direction. I just think the overall consistency.”
Now, the Cats face another challenge, as they travel to fifth-ranked Ole Miss on Saturday. Hamdan knows that the Rebels’ defense will pose a challenge for the Cats. What does Hamdan see in the Ole Miss defense?
“You know, I think similar to the first two SEC opponents we’ve played,” Hamdan said. “The front seven and defensive lines stand out. It’s going to be a good challenge. We are battled tested. We’ve faced good defenses in South Carolina and Georgia and we’re excited for this opportunity.”
This will be Kentucky’s first road game of the season, which brings with it a number of challenges. One of those is that UK quarterback Brock Vandagriff will be starting on the road for the first time in his career. Hamdan believes that the UK signal caller is ready for the challenge.
“It’s one of those things, you never really know until you’ve gone in there with a quarterback,” Hamdan said. “He’s done this. He’s very well aware. For us, it will be critical in that first quarter, settling everybody down with the movement, with the cadence, with the crowd noise. We’ve been repping it all week and we’ll be ready to go.”
Another element that the Cats will need to handle on Saturday will be the crowd noise. At Tuesday’s Kentucky practice, crowd noise was pumped onto the practice field to help the Cats simulate what they will be experiencing. Hamdan knows that it comes down to communicating.
“We have practiced as if our quarterback (communication) has not worked at times,” Hamdan said. “Quarterbacks know that from the standpoint of our signal operation. We don’t think it’s going to be a huge effect but again, you get in those environments, we’ve just got to do a great job communicating, playing fast, winning the pre-snap, doing the things we’ve been talking about since week one.”
One thing that could help Kentucky on Saturday is controlling the ball and keeping the prolific Ole Miss offense off the field. Those discussions will involve the entire coaching staff, according to Hamdan.
“Those are all things we have to think about during the week,” Hamdan said. “How are we going to win this football game. Those are conversations between (Mark Stoops), Brad (White) and myself, all of us putting our plan of attack together. We know the brand we have to play. I think it’s become pretty apparent to me in the first couple of weeks what that is. We’ve got to go execute our plan to the best of our ability.”
The Cats will look to build on a solid offensive performance last week against a top-five opponent this week, while playing on the road for the first time.
