In the run-up to Kentucky's critical SEC football contest with LSU, UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen played the role of school crossing guard for the Wildcats starting quarterback.
Coen's message to Will Levis?
Slooooowwww down.
"The whole theme for him all week was 'Just slow down. Slow it all down. Slow your feet down. Slow your mind down,'" Coen said. "And I thought you saw that."
With Levis, the Penn State graduate transfer, playing the best game of his brief UK career, the No. 16 Wildcats whipped LSU 42-21 before an animated Homecoming crowd of 61,690 at Kroger Field.
Of Kentucky's six touchdowns, Levis personally accounted for five.
The 6-foot-3, 232-pound product of Madison, Conn., threw for three scores and ran for two touchdowns.
"I really thought he played exceptionally well," UK Coach Mark Stoops said of Levis. "You could tell early on, just to me, his comfort level was there. You know, he looked really poised, really confident and just going through his progression, making some really nice throws."
The victory sets up UK (6-0, 4-0 SEC) to battle soon-to-be No. 1 Georgia (6-0, 4-0 SEC) for first place in the SEC East for the second time in four years. In 2018, Georgia vanquished Kentucky 34-17 in a contest in which the winner was certain to clinch a berth in the SEC championship game.
Against a Bulldogs defense some are already proclaiming as one of the best in recent college football history, it will take a monumental UK effort to pull an upset that would rock the college football world.
Nevertheless, the dream of Kentucky beating a No. 1-ranked foe for the fourth time in its history is more realistic based off the way Levis played vs. LSU (3-3, 1-2 SEC).
Against LSU, you might say slow and steady by Levis won the race for Kentucky.
Levis finished the game 14-of-17 passing for 145 yards and the three TDs. That passing yardage won't wow anyone, but it was accumulated with Levis making accurate intermediate and short throws — the kind of passes he had been struggling to complete in recent games.
For the first time in his six games as UK QB1, Levis did not throw an interception.
"I had some better throws, accuracy-wise," Levis said. "I thought my decision making and ball placement was pretty good when it needed to be."
One of the tools Coen brought to Kentucky from his spot on the Los Angeles Rams offensive coaching staff is an ability to use formations and pre-snap motion to create running backs so wide open for short passes that a touchdown seems almost certain.
Yet, through UK's first five games, Levis was having a devilish time dialing up the accuracy necessary to complete those passes.
Against LSU, Levis found that touch.
On Kentucky's first offensive possession of the game, Levis cashed in a Mark Stoops gamble on fourth-and-goal by hitting a lonesome Christopher Rodriguez for a 3-yard touchdown.
Early in the fourth quarter, Levis hit a wide-open JuTahn McClain on a wheel route that went for a 25-yard touchdown to give UK a 35-7 lead.
"The wheel route, we finally hit it," a smiling Coen said afterward. "We'd been trying (all season) to hit a wheel or a 'dirty eyes,' misdirection play."
Levis said Coen's emphasis on taking a calmer approach in the pocket while preparing to pass paid big dividends.
"I was just slowing down my footwork," Levis said. "(I had been) antsy with my feet."
In addition to imploring Levis to calm himself in the pocket, Coen dialed up more quarterback-run game. Levis, who Penn State was using as its situational running QB last season, looked right at home toting the rock.
As UK rolled up a whopping 330 rushing yards as a team on LSU, Levis contributed 75 yards on 11 carries.
On Kentucky's opening drive of the second half, Levis set up his own 1-yard TD run with a spinning, tackle-breaking, pile-moving 33-yard run that moved the Wildcats to the LSU 6.
"That's part of my game that I want to utilize to the best of my ability," Levis said of running the football. "It's something I think can help us win football games."
It will take a Herculean Kentucky offensive performance to stress a Georgia defense that has only given up two total offensive touchdowns in six games.
Head-to-head, UK hasn't crossed the Georgia goal line even one time since 2018.
The Levis who played against LSU — poised in the pocket; displaying the touch and accuracy necessary to complete short throws; and willing to tote the rock — at least gives Kirby Smart's Bulldogs something to think about.
All that was needed to speed up Kentucky's point production was for Will Levis to let the game slow down.
"I'm not even at my full potential — not even close to it," Levis said.
About to play one of the biggest games in school history, UK is banking on that.
