Cats Preparing Boley, Calzada for Saturday's Game Against Eastern Michigan

In Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss, the Kentucky offense made some big plays. On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan told the media that he thought his unit could have been even more productive against the Rebels.

“I think it’s frustrating. There’s no sugar coating,” Hamdan said. “We thought we could have put up 30-plus points in that game. Self-inflicted wounds. We made plays. The reality of the matter is, the formation mix up, the halftime issue, substitutions, we’re not going to recover from that. We know we’ve got to play better at all levels.”

Hamdan is focusing himself, his coaching staff and his offense on the positives. Hamdan believes that the Cats have the pieces and the scheme to be a very productive offense.

“We come in, everybody’s feeling bad, we know exactly what it feels like,” he said. “The positive is, this offensive football team can be a damn good team and we’ve got to take the next step. That’s what we’re focused on.”

How does the UK offensive staff go about fixing those items?

“I think we do a deep dive,” Hamdan said. “It’s partly trying to play a lot of guys, trying to get guys in the game from a matchup standpoint, all those things. It can’t happen, we understand that.”

In Saturday’s game, starting quarterback Zach Calzada injured his shoulder in the second half and had to leave the game. While Hamdan didn’t give specifics on Calzada’s role in Tuesday’s practice, he did say that Calzada was a participant.

“He’s out here,” Hamdan said. “He’s where he’s at with it, how healthy he is. He’s tough, he’s a competitor.”

Hamdan said that the plan for this week is to have both Calzada and backup Cutter Boley ready to play in Saturday’s game against Eastern Michigan.

“We’re in a position to have both guys ready,” Hamdan said. “Equal practice reps and get them both ready to go. Both of those guys will be ready to go.”

As far as Boley running the offense with the starters, Hamdan was pleased with what he saw on Tuesday.

“I think he’s looked good,” Hamdan said. “Any time you start mixing that again, when you have a newer quarterback with the first team, there’s some nuances there. Them getting used to his cadence a little bit. He’s been in this position and he’s doing a nice job out there.”

The UK offense has some things to clean up, and a decision to make about who will be under center on Saturday. Those items are the main focus for Hamdan and the offensive staff during this week of practice.