If you are handing out grades for Kentucky football's offensive reboot, it's hard to give Liam Coen and Will Levis anything below a rock-solid "B."
Needing to diversify a ground-hugging UK offense, Mark Stoops hired Coen off Sean McVay's Los Angeles Rams coaching staff.
Wanting to install the Rams attack in Lexington, Coen lured the strong-armed Levis, a former Penn State quarterback, to Lexington.
Kentucky's offensive transformation went well enough that the No. 25 Wildcats (9-3, 5-3 SEC) are actually favored against No. 17 Iowa (10-3, 7-3 Big Ten) in the VRBO Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day in Orlando.
For a UK attack that has improved substantially in most major statistical categories in 2021, a stout Iowa defense offers the Cats a chance to validate their progress.
"They don't give you anything easy," Coen said last week of the Hawkeyes. "They don't mix it up a ton. They do what they do and they do it extremely well."
The numbers tell the story of how much more proficient the Kentucky offense became in 2021 versus the prior season.
Kentucky went from 122nd in the FBS in passing (121.5 yards a game) in 2020 to 71st this season (225.1 yards a game).
UK went from 107th in scoring in 2020 (21.8 points a game) to 34th in 2021 (32.8 points) and from 115th in total offense (318 yards a game) to 41st (431.2).
The 2021 Wildcats entered the red zone 17 more times (50 to 33) than the 2020 Cats (albeit in one more game), and scored points on 14 more such drives than in the prior season (42 to 28).
Even the run game improved. Kentucky stood 23rd in the FBS in rushing yards (206.1 a game) in 2021, up from 34th (196.5) in 2020.
Featured running back Christopher Rodriguez stands 15th in the FBS in rushing (1,272 yards).
Top receiver Wan'Dale Robinson has already set a single-season Kentucky record for receptions in a season (94) and ranks 19th in the FBS in receiving yards (1,164).
At quarterback, Levis threw for 2,593 yards, the most by a UK QB since Mike Hartline (3,178) in 2010.
The Kentucky offensive line was named one of four finalists for the Joe Moore Award, signifying the nation's best offensive front (Michigan ultimately was named the winner).
Two areas kept the UK offense from earning an "A."
Given a late chance to beat SEC rival Tennessee, Kentucky's "two-minute offense" sputtered, leading to a dispiriting 45-42 loss.
The same problem manifested itself when Louisville clock mismanagement gave UK an opportunity to score points just before halftime. In what became a 52-21 UK rout, there was no impact from Kentucky again failing to capitalize in its two-minute offense.
The other problem was turnovers.
In 2021, Kentucky turned the ball over a robust 22 times. With some key players battling "fumble-itis" at various points of the year, UK lost 10 fumbles, three more than the season before.
Meanwhile, Levis threw 12 interceptions, seven more than UK's far more ground-oriented attack produced in 2020.
All those turnovers (and a relative lack of takeaways defensively) have Kentucky 128th in the FBS in turnover margin (minus-13). A season ago, UK finished 13th in the same category (plus-10).
Other than UK's Stoops going against the team he played for in college, the most intriguing aspect of the Citrus Bowl matchup arises from the turnover-margin comparison.
The Iowa defense led the NCAA in pass interceptions with a robust 24. That helps the Hawkeyes stand No. 3 in the FBS in turnover margin at plus-13.
Six different Iowa defenders have multiple interceptions. Hybrid safety/linebacker Dane Belton leads the Hawkeyes with five, while cornerback Riley Moss — the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year — has four.
"They are just so technically sound and fundamentally sound that it can get frustrating at times as a quarterback and make you make a poor decision (with the ball)," Coen says of the Iowa "D." "That's what they try to base their system off of — let the quarterback or the offense mess it up."
Ball hawking is not all at which the Iowa defense is good. The Hawkeyes are 13th in the FBS against the rush (allowing only 113.8 yards a game) and 15th in total defense (326.8 yards a game).
So if Coen, Levis and the Kentucky attack can perform well versus a defense of such quality, it ends 2021 with an emphatic validation of the new offensive regime. It would also build even more on the positive program momentum UK is riding after its blowout of U of L and its lavishly praised class of 2022 recruiting haul.
Kentucky will need to rely on its balance, Coen says, to keep from putting Levis into conditions that, against Iowa, tend to produce interceptions.
"This is truly going to be a game about our guys going out and making plays and being special with the ball in their hands," Coen says.
The UK offense made clear strides in 2021. Its performance against a high-level Iowa defense will show us just how high those upward steps have reached.
