This is last years team without Ray Davis…?

[YaketySax]

Only two games into the season disclaimer.

I don’t see much improvement. I see like-for-like transfers replacing departed players without significant upgrades. What I do see is a playmaker like Ray Davis missing. Someone who can torch Florida and UofL. Someone who can be relied upon for making plays when needed and overcome average OL play.

Is the recent recruiting as good as the ratings services say or worse? Is the development phase (position coaching, strength program, etc.) slacking or are we in a bridge year (ex. Patterson will be a good RB after a year in the weight room)?

6 win team with this schedule.

 

[Fadhi]

This looks like the Lynn Bowden team without Lynn

 

[YaketySax]

If there’s something to this then: what does this say about last years team and broader recruiting/development?

 

[TucsonCat]

Recruiting evaluation is successful on only one side of the ball.

We have a good defense.
The best ranked players on defense are on the field.

We have a bad offense.
We might vhave gotten more high ranked recruits here But 4 out of every 5 of those are no longer on the team and never contributed. And they didn't contribute anywhere else. So coaching shouldn't get a pass, but I gotta look at who we bring in more.

 

[K_TIME]

Well...Liam Coen is no longer the OC is the bigger issue guys....love the way he left or not....the offense scored 29pts a game last year. So the guy knows how to develop an offense.

 

[maroon79]

I thought going into the heat that we probably need to OL to make it

Here’s what I know- UK has a 3rd year starter that graded out to a 49.1 by PFF

Let that sink in and marinate.

 

[OleBum]

Who is UK gonna beat? Ohio and Murray State? I wouldn't even count those as definite W's.

 

[Boz]

This is the worse OL in last 4 years. Even our best OL M. Cox has looked bad this season.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Well...Liam Coen is no longer the OC is the bigger issue guys....love the way he left or not....the offense scored 29pts a game last year. So the guy knows how to develop an offense.

The offense did not score 29ppg. The team did. Thats an important difference. Defense and special teams had very nice seasons and contributed mightily when not directly scoring themselves.

That said, coen was elite his first run. Last year he was really really good but should've been way better.

For example, he barely used ray davis despite his insane td per touch ratio.

 

[K_TIME]

The offense did not score 29ppg. The team did. Thats an important difference. Defense and special teams had very nice seasons and contributed mightily when not directly scoring themselves.

That said, coen was elite his first run. Last year he was really really good but should've been way better.

For example, he barely used ray davis despite his insane td per touch ratio.

Granted I know Max had 2 pick sixes....DJack had a pick six vs. MSU.....these things are random but i'd argue the points per game is a wash year over year. Each season has some defensive scores/short fields generated due to TOs.

Coen didn't have as good a year in 2023 vs. 2021...but he still put up a solid offensive unit in 2023.

All we lost was Leary, Flax, Ray Davis and Tayvion....the rest are the same kids with a portal Tn starter to replace Flax. Brock to replace a decent Leary. Maclin to replace Tayvion. Only Ray Davis can I argue we didn't' get as good a player on paper to replace in Traynum.

And there is zero reason Key, Brown, Dingle, Anderson, M Cox, E Cox, Jager, Demi, etc... to have improved from last year.

The only rational argument is Bush Hamden/Wolford is a sizeable dropoff from Coen/Yenser....adn I'll argue it's really Coen vs. Bush the dropoff morese than Yenser vs. Wolford.

 

[YaketySax]

I’m less interested in X’s and O’s. Not that they don’t matter, but I think the jimmy’s and joe’s mean more at CFB level. The offense is down a transformational playmaker who arguably won the UofL game for UK. He also opened up the Florida game and gave breathing room.

Two game disclaimer, but I don’t see positional improvement elsewhere to overcome his loss. Either at RB specifically or across the offense in the aggregate. I thought the WRs were better this time last week but then I saw the OL and QB against SEC competition and im less sure.

 

[The-Hack]

I don’t see much improvement.

As to your original thought, yeah, Ray’s absence is pretty huge. Our backs have looked serviceable, but some of those runs last Saturday might have gone the distance with Ray Davis’s magic.

 

[Tf2217]

That said, coen was elite his first run. Last year he was really really good but should've been way better.

For example, he barely used ray davis despite his insane td per touch ratio.

Oh please that team isn't even good if wandale isnt on it.

 

[aikenite4uk]

Davis was outstanding last year....he made something from nothing on several of his big runs. That's why he's in the NFL

 

[BGWentworth]

If anybody thinks Cohen and our offense was good last year, I don’t know to tell them. Must have some folks with short term memory issues.

 

[YardCat]

Well...Liam Coen is no longer the OC is the bigger issue guys....love the way he left or not....the offense scored 29pts a game last year. So the guy knows how to develop an offense.

Hard to argue with stats! Now we might have put up a 50 piece against Southern Miss to skew the numbers if not for the weather

 

[blue cincy]

As of right now we are a team minus Ray plus some extra sauce. This is not a team ready to step up and go to the next level to move Kentucky football forward. We have been stuck in the mud (middle of the pack) SEC.

 

[EliteBlue]

This is the worse OL in last 4 years. Even our best OL M. Cox has looked bad this season.

Yep. Starts and ends there.

If we are going to be this awful on the OLine in pass blocking…then we need to do one of 2 things:

1) ride w Brock and the receiving corps and go quick reads and release routes aka screens, slants, speed out sets. Spread it out and true air raid focused on quick shallow routes. Spread the D laterally/ sideline-to-sideline with spacing and then hit HB Dives into a softened and spread out middle

—OR—

2) transition to Gavin and go full RPO, run block oriented, Lynn Bowden Offense with a better arm to take advantage of the stacked box a little more often but still largely read option, get downhill fast and hit gaps type football with Trayanum and DSK. 2 backs in the backfield to help pick up blocks on the non running plays to try to give time to get over the top with Brown or Key against a stacked box 1 on 1 on the perimeter

But what we can’t do is stay the same. Pick an option and adjust to give use the best chance to win as many games as possible. But it’s clear that this O Line CANNOT pass block consistently enough to be competitive against the upper half of the league right now. They had tons of leaks against Southern Miss as well that the superior size was able to compensate for. But their lateral quickness and technique just isn’t there. Run blocking and RPO concepts are significantly easier…or you get the ball out a breakneck speed and quick routes ao all they have to do is make contact w the pass rush to give a split second and then you take advantage of the aggressive pass rush getting up field.