Cats Looking to Improve Third Down Efficiency
Kentucky is off to a 4-1 start and is ranked 25th nationally in the AFCA Coaches Poll this week. The Cats rallied to win at South Carolina on Saturday, capping the game with a successful two-point conversion for the win.
While that all sounds positive, UK head coach Will Stein knows there is still room for his team to get better. On Tuesday, Stein met the media and he discussed third downs, which have been an issue for the Cats on both sides of the ball.
On offense, Stein knows that his team must do better on converting third downs and keeping drives alive.
“It’s not our best,” Stein said. “Obviously, it’s the worst in the country, so we’ve got to continue to improve in that area. I don’t know how many third downs we have (had), which is a positive, but when you are in those opportunities, you have to have the ability to convert them.”
Stein noted that it wasn’t necessarily a schematic problem against South Carolina, but an execution problem.
“We had three opportunities in the first half (against South Carolina) with crossing routes that we work every single day,” Stein said. “And the route detail on those were not good. I don’t think it’s a schematic error. I think that was a technique and fundamental error. We’ve got to continue to improve in that area, there’s no doubt.”
One of the ways the Cats can improve offensively on third down is by having Kenny Minchey pick up first downs with his legs, something Stein thought the UK signal caller did better on Saturday.
“We work on it every single day,” Stein said. “It’s about throwing and catching and protecting the quarterback and then being mobile, like Kenny was on second down, to get the first with his feet.”
Stein knows that one particular play has hurt his defense all season long, and it happened again on Saturday.
“(South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers) had some big scrambles, which we’ve talked about every week, containing the quarterback,” Stein said. “You’ve got to be able to contain these guys. It’s not like there’s giant, explosive runs from running backs right now. It’s literally quarterback scrambles. And so, that has to improve and we know that. Nobody is shying away from that aspect of our defense, that we’ve got to do a better job of getting people to the ground on third down.”
The Cats have won four of five games this season, but Stein knows that his team can get even better, starting with improvement on third down on both sides of the ball.
