Good offenses have to have something they hang their hat on regardless if other team knows what you’re doing. Gran adjusted his gameplan to emphasize an excellent running game behind some road graders. It led to a 10-win season and opponents knew UK was going to be a difficult game.
Several fans lamented the style and lobbied for a more balanced attack and better skill players. To the detractor’s defense, if UK got behind by 10-14 points it was nearly impossible to catch up. It was also apparent that we could probably not break through the glass ceiling and climb into the upper tier of the SEC. However, we were solidly sitting in the next tier of SEC teams behind the top 4-5 teams. The style (plus lots of QB injuries) was being used against us in recruiting.
Gran fell on the sword, while remaining with the program. (That’s unique and says a lot about the culture of the program.) Coen comes in and we immediately bring in some key transfers and some young skill talent. The best thing that happened to Coen was also inheriting a good OL. The OL continuity was just assumed because they continually put players in the league and were good. Coen (round 1) incorporated the deep shot off play action. We were dangerous and more balanced. Two 10-win seasons in 3 years, and UK football is experiencing success that had not been experienced in 50+ years!
Coen leaves and we are still balanced, but not really excellent at anything. OL shows cracks, but we wrote it off to poor OL coaching, OL transition and complex terminology.
Coen (round 2) still incorporated the balance from his first stint, along with similar principle of deep shots built off of play action. The QB play wasnt as good as his first stint. Skill players dropped too many passes. Plus, the OL was still not dominant. An NFL rb (Davis) caused teams to fear our running game, but we couldn’t leverage it to do much with our passing game.
Coen departed for a second time and we hired Hamdan. The major difference was the timing of Coen’s departure, combined with incoming transfers and recruiting. Hamdan has not impressed me, but the roster was put together before he arrived. The one glaring issue is the continual decline of OL play. I don’t think that can be laid at BH’s feet. Frankly, I don’t know where to place the blame. Yes, ultimately is responsibility of the HC, but that still doesn’t explain how it happened. The loss of an entire class of (highly recruited) OL hurt us more than we thought at the time. Goodwin, Hall, Bingham and Young were supposed to be starting this year. They’re not even on the roster. MCox didn’t forget how to play. He must be playing on some very bad legs. Mincey and Farmer are struggling. The RT position looks like a turnstile with opposing DEs racking up record sack numbers.
Bottom line, I have no clue what our offensive identity is, or even what BH wants it to be. Maybe, this is because of OL. Maybe, its because he had no input on personnel.
I miss the days of knowing Gran was going to smash a team in the mouth and mid tier OL were coached up to be aggressive linemen. (Yes, I know it is much easier for OL to run block vs pass block.) But, it played to our strengths. Maybe 9-10 wins is the ceiling for that style of team. But, I miss those 8-10 win seasons!
Several fans lamented the style and lobbied for a more balanced attack and better skill players. To the detractor’s defense, if UK got behind by 10-14 points it was nearly impossible to catch up. It was also apparent that we could probably not break through the glass ceiling and climb into the upper tier of the SEC. However, we were solidly sitting in the next tier of SEC teams behind the top 4-5 teams. The style (plus lots of QB injuries) was being used against us in recruiting.
Gran fell on the sword, while remaining with the program. (That’s unique and says a lot about the culture of the program.) Coen comes in and we immediately bring in some key transfers and some young skill talent. The best thing that happened to Coen was also inheriting a good OL. The OL continuity was just assumed because they continually put players in the league and were good. Coen (round 1) incorporated the deep shot off play action. We were dangerous and more balanced. Two 10-win seasons in 3 years, and UK football is experiencing success that had not been experienced in 50+ years!
Coen leaves and we are still balanced, but not really excellent at anything. OL shows cracks, but we wrote it off to poor OL coaching, OL transition and complex terminology.
Coen (round 2) still incorporated the balance from his first stint, along with similar principle of deep shots built off of play action. The QB play wasnt as good as his first stint. Skill players dropped too many passes. Plus, the OL was still not dominant. An NFL rb (Davis) caused teams to fear our running game, but we couldn’t leverage it to do much with our passing game.
Coen departed for a second time and we hired Hamdan. The major difference was the timing of Coen’s departure, combined with incoming transfers and recruiting. Hamdan has not impressed me, but the roster was put together before he arrived. The one glaring issue is the continual decline of OL play. I don’t think that can be laid at BH’s feet. Frankly, I don’t know where to place the blame. Yes, ultimately is responsibility of the HC, but that still doesn’t explain how it happened. The loss of an entire class of (highly recruited) OL hurt us more than we thought at the time. Goodwin, Hall, Bingham and Young were supposed to be starting this year. They’re not even on the roster. MCox didn’t forget how to play. He must be playing on some very bad legs. Mincey and Farmer are struggling. The RT position looks like a turnstile with opposing DEs racking up record sack numbers.
Bottom line, I have no clue what our offensive identity is, or even what BH wants it to be. Maybe, this is because of OL. Maybe, its because he had no input on personnel.
I miss the days of knowing Gran was going to smash a team in the mouth and mid tier OL were coached up to be aggressive linemen. (Yes, I know it is much easier for OL to run block vs pass block.) But, it played to our strengths. Maybe 9-10 wins is the ceiling for that style of team. But, I miss those 8-10 win seasons!
