I have started to feel a little bit sorry for Rich Scangarello. Since arriving in Lexington from the staff of the San Francisco 49ers, the new Kentucky offensive coordinator cannot seem to catch a break.
Through six games, Scangarello has had the services of star running back Christopher Rodriguez and lauded NFL quarterback prospect Will Levis in the same game exactly once.
At a school where the “Big Blue Wall” moniker bespeaks a proud recent heritage of strong offensive line play, Scarnagello arrived in a season when the UK offensive front is undergoing a total rebuild. Kentucky has no offensive lineman starting in 2022 in a position they played for the Wildcats in 2021 — and, boy, has that showed.
Meanwhile, UK’s offensive numbers would be better except that four Kentucky drives this season that have reached the red zone have ended with turnovers by Levis (not that they were all the QB’s fault).
With No. 22 UK (4-2, 1-2 SEC) coming off back-to-back dispiriting SEC losses to No 9 Mississippi and South Carolina in which the Cats failed to exceed 20 points in either game, an unhappy Big Blue Nation has begun to cast a skeptical eye toward Scangarello.
Of course, Saturday’s 24-14 home loss to South Carolina came with UK starting quarterback Levis watching the game from the sideline in a gray track suit with a therapeutic boot on his left foot.
Without Levis, Kentucky managed only 299 yards of total offense as former Somerset High School star Kaiya Sheron made his first college start at QB for UK.
Because so many have begun to compare unfavorably the Kentucky offense of 2022 vs. the 2021 UK attack that was coordinated by current Los Angeles Rams OC Liam Coen, I looked up the numbers.
Rushing: Through six games, Kentucky is averaging 92.5 yards a game on the ground in 2022 compared to 214.2 yards rushing at this point in the season last year.
Of course, it was part of Scangarello’s buzzard’s luck that the first four games in which he called the Kentucky offense came with Rodriguez sitting out due to a suspension. Since C-Rod returned at Ole Miss, UK is averaging a net of 114.3 yards a game on the ground.
Passing: UK is throwing for more yards so far in 2022, 263.8 yards a game, than it was at the same point of last season, 197.7.
Total offense: Lacking the run/pass balance of a season ago, Kentucky in 2022 is so far averaging 356.3 yards of offense in comparison to last season’s average of 411.8 yards after six games.
Scoring: Kentucky is averaging 26.3 points a game so far in 2022, compared to its average of 31 points a contest through last year’s first six games.
The telling stat: To understand the big difference between the UK attack after six games in 2022 vs. 2021, one need only look to one statistical category. So far in 2022, Kentucky quarterbacks have been sacked a whopping 25 times.
Out of 131 FBS football teams, only two, Akron (28) and Colorado State (26), have surrendered more sacks than UK.
Last year at this time, a veteran UK offensive line led by current NFL players Luke Fortner and Darian Kinnard had given up 10 sacks in the regular season’s first half.
One need not possess the football IQ of Bill Belichick to understand that a big reason the 2022 Kentucky offense has seemed so disjointed is the difficulty the Wildcats have had in protecting their QBs.
Not all sacks are the fault of the offensive line, of course.
After a South Carolina defense that had recorded four combined sacks in its first five games sacked UK’s Sheron six times Saturday night, the redshirt freshman QB said “people are going to say the (Kentucky offensive) line did bad, but I took unnecessary sacks. I think that just comes with (a QB making his) first start.”
When coaches such as Scangarello and new UK offensive line coach Zach Yenser, who also came from the 49ers, drop down to college from the NFL, a frequent concern is whether the systems they bring from the pros are too complex for college players to easily adapt.
One certainly sees the question of whether too much is being asked of the struggling UK offensive line being raised now among Kentucky backers.
The Kentucky offense seems caught in a pickle. With the strong-armed Levis and dynamic receiving talents in Tayvion Robinson, Dane Key and Barion Brown, UK has the skill talent necessary to complete deep shots in its passing attack.
However, that requires the offensive line to hold up in pass protection longer as those deep routes develop.
Conversely, given its struggles, it would be better for the Kentucky offensive line if UK went to a quick passing game built around short routes. That, however, does not play to the strength of Levis, whose short throws are not always perfectly accurate.
Of this season’s non-ceasing pass-protection issues, “I have to own it,” Scangarello said following the South Carolina loss.
Have I mentioned that I have started to feel a little bit sorry for Rich Scangarello?
