Why the offseason conversation about UK football’s faster offense might be misleading

A moment early in Bush Hamdan’s installation of his offensive system during Kentucky football spring practice offered a telling glimpse at one of the most-talked-about changes for the Wildcats this offseason.

New UK quarterback Brock Vandagriff, a transfer from Georgia, was talking with center Eli Cox, who spent the last three years operating the pro-style offense brought to UK from the NFL by coordinators Liam Coen and Rich Scangarello.

The conversation quickly turned to the tempo of Hamdan’s no-huddle attack.

“(Cox) was like, ‘Dude, I don’t know if I like it yet. It feels like we’re doing two-minute (drill) every play,’” Vandagriff recounted. “I was like, this isn’t even fast. This is just normal stuff.

“We’re just running a normal up-tempo offense.”

It would be easy to understand Cox’s confusion.

Kentucky ran one of the slowest offenses in the country the last two seasons. The Wildcats ranked last of 133 FBS teams in plays per game (54.9) last year.

Even when Coen looked likely to return to UK as offensive coordinator, it was clear increasing pace of play would be an offseason priority.

Some of the dip in plays per game could be attributed to a rule change that kept the clock running after first downs achieved in bounds other than the final two minutes of the half. Coen also indicated the plodding pace was at least partially attributed to quarterback Devin Leary’s struggles to get the play call communicated in the huddle quickly enough.

But Coen also acknowledged he would consider moving away from a huddle attack if he returned.

When Coen elected to jump back to the NFL as offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops prioritized finding continuity with a pro-style scheme but increasing tempo in his search for a replacement. It was no coincidence that during Hamdan’s introductory news conference he quickly pointed to his offense’s ability to play fast as a selling point for his scheme without being prompted by reporters.

“Variation in tempo is important because different games are going to call for different styles,” Hamdan said. “We really believe we were able to show that this last year at Boise, the last couple years at Missouri. But the ability to get up there and play fast, play smart, play together, I think is critical.”

Hamdan’s Boise State offense averaged 67 plays per game last season, 12 more than Kentucky. The Broncos also ranked 15th nationally in yards per play (6.55).

An offseason’s worth of talk about tempo has led Stoops to clarify his position in the leadup to the season opener though.

“Yes, I do (want to play faster), but I am not trying to be a tempo offense,” Stoops said at Kentucky’s media day in August. ”We are not trying to be Old Miss and Tennessee and some of those teams that do it exceptionally well and just snap it with 30 seconds on the play clock. That is a different style and it’s very difficult to defend and they do it very well.

“We can’t be that overnight. I just don’t want to snap it with two and three and four seconds on the play clock.”

Late in the 2023 season Stoops bemoaned having to stand next to an official on almost every play due to the risk he needed to call a timeout if his offense was not able to get a play off in time.

Those struggles led the staff to prioritize adding a quarterback from a pro-style scheme as Leary’s replacement in the transfer portal. That search landed on Vandagriff, a former five-star recruit who served as a backup in Georgia’s pro-style attack for the last three seasons.

A rule change allowing the offensive coordinator to directly communicate with the quarterback through a helmet radio should help increase tempo too, but Kentucky cannot rely on those changes alone.

“I like to see more snaps,” Stoops said. “There needs to be a balance there. We are not trying to be in a complete hurry. We are just trying to be more efficient, get in a rhythm and get some more plays. Any of these offensive coordinators have that ability to go super fast, to go medium, to go at the line.

“... That also comes from getting first downs. If we get first downs, guys are going to get more touches.”

Kentucky ranked 111th nationally in first downs per game (17) last season, while Hamdan’s Boise State offense ranked 40th (21.6).

Hamdan will have to adapt his offensive scheme to face more difficult competition in the Southeastern Conference, but he does have experience calling plays in the league after taking over those duties from Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz late in the 2022 season as quarterbacks coach there. The personnel Hamdan has to work with at Kentucky should be an upgrade too, though it should be noted Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is considered one of the best players at his position in the country.

In an apparent recognition of the tempo conversation spiraling out of control, Hamdan joked during his news conference that the Wildcats would run 100 plays per game and be the fastest offense in the country before claiming to lose sleep over the repeated question.

“We always want to be somewhere in the middle,” Hamdan said.”And what that means is, have the flexibility depending on how the game is going to do whatever it takes to win the football game. And I think that’s important for all of us to know.”

Hamdan pointed to Boise State’s game at Memphis in which the Broncos scored fourth quarter touchdowns on a five-play, 80-yard drive that took 2:16 and a seven-play, 75-yard drive that took 1:37 as evidence his offense can operate as fast as any in the country when needed, but he stressed that execution is the more important factor.

“When we had the scrimmages and we saw, like, ‘Oh, wow, we could actually catch the defense off guard and stretch the defense out and then throw it over top,’ we just all bought into the system,” offensive lineman Gerald Mincey said. “And all bought in to what it takes to prepare to have our offense, because our (goal) is No. 1 offense in the SEC.”

Just when Stoops and Hamdan appeared to have successfully reset expectations about what increased tempo would mean for UK’s offense this season, Mincey stoked the fire again this week.

UK’s new right tackle transferred to Lexington from Tennessee, where coach Josh Heupel has found great success with one of the fastest offenses in the country. Mincey, who has rarely passed up a chance to poke at his former team since arriving at Kentucky, was twice asked to compare the Wildcats’ offensive tempo to Tennessee’s pace of play.

“Probably a little faster,” Mincey said with a smile. “We’re gonna see Saturday. Probably a little faster, because we will try to really push the tempo and really wear these guys out.”

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