UK's offensive line still needs work

Sep. 25—LEXINGTON

Whenever Kentucky coaches talk about quarterback Will Levis, one topic seemingly always comes up: The need for the Wildcats' star quarterback to protect himself.

The 6-foot-3, 232-pounder has been known for his bruising running style, often lowering a shoulder into incoming defenders instead of safely sliding when he's on the run. Unfortunately for Levis, UK's coaching staff and Cats fans as a whole, though, the choice to protect himself hasn't really been in his hands much this season.

Kentucky dispatched pesky Northern Illinois 31-23 Saturday night at Kroger Field, but the Cats' offensive line continued to struggle.

As a result, UK's running game never really got going — an alarming trend for a program that prides itself on pounding the ball — and Levis was left scrambling in an effort to, as best he could, protect himself from swarming defenders.

The Wildcats' offensive line entered Saturday ranked as one of the worst quarterback-protecting units in college football and didn't exactly improve those metrics against NIU. UK had given up 11 sacks in three games prior to facing the Huskies — putting the Cats in a tie for 125th in FBS — and the five sacks Levis took Saturday certainly didn't help.

Somehow, Levis still put up a tremendous showing as he completed 18-of-26 pass attempts for 303 yards and four touchdowns. It was a career-high-tying effort for the signal-caller, who also threw four TDs on a pair of occasions last season.

UK coach Mark Stoops credited his QB for hanging in the pocket against a pressure-heavy defense and making a series of deep throws throughout the game.

"We're all striving for perfection and we're not there yet, but we want to be explosive and we're certainly getting that," Stoops said. "It's a plus. It's also — we've got to be who we are, and right now we've got a very talented quarterback and we have some very explosive wide receivers, so we're creating some big plays."

Stoops took a diplomatic approach when it came to his blockers.

"It's not always on them," he said. "I'm not saying none of it is, but some of those sacks — I know one in particular that stands out to me, that I know we got beat clean off of an edge. There's other ones where the quarterback needs to throw the ball, there's running backs, there's a lot of people involved. We know we need to improve, but look at the good that they did tonight, as well, in protecting a bunch of stuff."

Stoops is correct in not assigning all of the blame on the Cats' offensive linemen, but if UK's struggled this much to protect Levis in games against Miami (Ohio), Florida, Youngstown State and Northern Illinois, what happens when the Cats' offensive line is tasked with blocking against Ole Miss, Tennessee or Georgia?

Kentucky clearly has the weapons downfield for Levis to excel, but he also needs the time to make those throws.

Wide receivers Tayvion Robinson and Barion Brown reeled in a combined 11 passes on 12 targets for 249 yards and four TDs. Both exceeded 100 yards apiece, with scoring receptions of 15, 69 70 and 40 yards. Had he not been sacked so many times, who knows how many yards Levis could throw for?

UK stood out in the passing attack, but the Cats rushed for only 103 yards on 35 attempts as a team. Kavosiey Smoke ran 12 times for 85 yards but also had a fumble that led to NIU tying the contest at 14-14 heading into intermission.

Stoops called the ground game "hit and miss."

But, as has been the case all season, it's a luxury for UK to struggle in different areas and still come away with the victory.

Stoops doesn't take the win for granted, and in his mind, it's on to the next one.

"A lot to improve on," he admitted. "It's good to be 4-0, and we're excited to get back to work and looking forward to the challenge and getting on the road this week."

The offense still needs some work heading into next Saturday's road tilt at Ole Miss, and protecting Levis should be at the top of that priority list.