Wan'Dale Robinson's first touchdown catch Saturday came after coach Mark Stoops told offensive coordinator Liam Coen to get him the ball. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Who says Mark Stoops is a boring, conservative, defensive-minded coach who doesn’t want to take chances throwing the football?
Not Stoops.
The UK head coach was feeling giddy about his offense after watching Penn State transfer Will Levis complete 18 of 26 passes for 367 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception to help UK amass over 550 yards of total offense in a 45-10 win Saturday over ULM.
Stoops said to credit him for the first long touchdown pass to Nebraska transfer Wan’Dale Robinson, who had two touchdown catches.
“You all can thank me for that one. We were about seven plays in and I said, ‘Get Wan’Dale the ball,’ and it was a touchdown. I’m one for one,” Stoops laughed and said after the game.
It was no secret Stoops — and UK fans — wanted the passing game improved. That’s why long-time offensive coordinator Eddie Gran was let go after last season and Liam Coen was brought in from the Los Angeles Rams to oversee the offense. It is why Coen recruited Levis and Joey Gatewood transferred after Levis won the job.
“Obviously we improved in some areas we have been discussing for a long time,” Stoops said. “Very good start. It was nice to see the explosive plays.”
Levis was known for his strong arm and he showed it off several times. He did fail to connect on some shorter throws with inaccurate passes but that happens.
Kentucky averaged 121 yards passing per game last season. Saturday the Cats had almost that much before the first quarter ended and the 119 yards in the first quarter were more passing yards than UK had in six of 11 games last year (of course 10 games were against SEC opponents and ULM is not to be confused with an SEC team).
“I was nervous for sure,” Levis said after the game. “It was not like it was my first time playing but it was my first time starting for a new program with pretty high expectations and I knew a lot of people would be watching to see how the game goes.”
Levis said being nervous was a good thing because it “means I care a lot about the team and how it goes.”
That has seemed obvious since he arrived on campus and probably one reason he won the job.
“Glad it turned out the way it did,” he said about UK’s dominant win.
5 Responses
Lots of us are glad it turned out as it did. And looking forward to seeing it continue to continue to get better. Nice start coach, good teaching!
With you John
Mr. Liam Coen, go ahead and unpack your bags!! Saturday was a game we haven’t seen since Woodson was here!!
Great game. I am a Levis convert for sure. What an arm. Not exactly a SEC defense he was throwing against for sure but Liked what I saw. I’ve waited a lot of years for this…Go Cats.
Big bad Will will make sweet Williams out of a lot of billy boys!