Kavosiey Smoke (SEC Photo)
“It’s never about me. I have got to do what is best for our football team,” offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said. “If that is slow down and grind it out to give our defense a rest, that’s what we do. We have been pretty good at that.”
Truer words were never spoken. UK’s Eddie Gran does need to do what is best for the team and the second half of his statement I believe is at the crux of the issue for Kentucky on offense this season. In my opinion they need to run the ball more frequently. It seems pretty simple but is not easy to do. But here’s why they need to do it.
In the past four years at UK the Wildcats have been invited to four straight bowl games. That puts UK in a position to tie the Kentucky record for most consecutive bowl games by a UK Football team if they get invited to a bowl game at the end of this season. It has only happened one other time in Kentucky history when Rich Brooks took UK to five in a row from 2006 through 2011.
Of those four bowl games that UK Football participated in under Mark Stoops they lost the rushing battle in the first two games, they had the lower time of possession and they threw more passes — 37 on average for each game — and they subsequently lost each game. UK threw more than double the amount of passes — 75 to 34 — than their opponents (Georgia Tech and Northwestern) combined to throw in those two losses.
Conversely in the two bowl wins – against Penn State and Virginia Tech – Kentucky won the rushing battle, won the time of possession, threw less passes and won both games. In fact, in the Citrus Bowl win over No. 13 Penn State the Wildcats ran 57 plays of which 42 were running plays. They only threw the ball 15 times. In the Belk Bowl last season against Virginia Tech Kentucky ran 68 plays and 55 were running plays. They threw the ball only 13 times.
So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that winning Kentucky Football teams need to run the ball. They need to grind it out on the ground. I know it’s nice for the coaches to say they want a more balanced attack and they plan to throw the ball more to help them win more games but let’s be honest, the facts say otherwise.
This Kentucky program has been built on playing great defense, controlling the clock and running the football. In my opinion, the sooner the coaches figure out that the personality of this team – and most future UK teams – is to play hard nosed defense and run the ball the sooner Kentucky Football will be a major player in the SEC. They aren’t going to get there by throwing the ball.
Take last Saturday’s game against Auburn as an example. Kentucky threw the ball 38 times, out of 78 total plays. That’s pretty good balance. But they lost the game — by a pretty significant deficit. Yes, they won the rushing battle and yes, they had the most passing yards and first downs and best third down conversion percentage but they lost 29-13. To an Auburn team that was no better than they were.
And I realize most of you right now are saying, “But they turned the ball over 3 times in bad spots on the field.” That is true. (Probably four times because the botched fake punt should count as a turnover also in reality). But in my opinion, had UK not been so dead set on throwing the ball and stuck with the run game throughout the entire contest they could have pulled out the win. I think those previous big game statistics prove that out.
Running the ball at the goal line instead of passing it would have eliminated the interception thrown by Terry Wilson right before halftime. Running the ball consistently throughout the game with the running backs would have slowed the Auburn offense, reduced their chances to make big plays and create momentum for their offense and defense.
And keep in mind that Kentucky has one of the best offensive lines in the country. Use them for what they are good at, run blocking for the ball carriers.
Now I realize that what I am saying may not be popular with fans but it would be effective. Running the ball at UK has been effective. That’s why Mark Stoops is now pushing to be the second most winning coach in the history of UK Football.
I think Offensive Coordinator Eddie Gran realizes also that this Kentucky program has been built on “grind it out” football. He also realizes that fans want to see a Mike Leach air raid-style offense most of the time. But it’s just not effective at Kentucky under Mark Stoops. That’s why Shannon Dawson is no longer the Offensive Coordinator at UK and Neal Brown is the head coach at West Virginia. Throwing the ball all over the field at UK doesn’t t consistently win football games under Mark Stoops. It just doesn’t.
And I believe the coaches know that. They know UK wins games when they run the ball frequently and effectively and from this recent quote it appears that Eddie Gran cares more about winning than anything else. In fact, I’m sure he does.
Gran said, “I am who I am. Some people like me and some don’t. Our job is to score points, take care of the defense and us get in the end zone.”
And I think history has shown that throwing the ball 30-40 times a game is not going to accomplish that. It may work for other coaches like Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach, but at Kentucky running the ball is the name of the game. And the Wildcats have bowl wins against highly ranked opponents in the last two years to prove it.
— Keith Peel
