This is a game about which team can dictate its own tempo. The Wildcats have run 259 plays through the four games this season and are outside the top 100 in plays per game. It can be slow despite throwing more than running. The Wildcats have run 147 pass plays and 112 run plays this season. That's give or take 15 plays fewer per game than the Rebels despite Ole Miss being run-heavy which runs the clock more.
We've talked a good bit about UK's offensive line being an issue, and Levis has been pressured on 41 percent of his dropbacks this season. He's been sacked 15 times, thrown five passes away due to pressure and had two balls batted down. Despite that, he's completing 67 percent of his passes and has 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.
I was surprised by PFF giving him only two big-time throws (down the field passes into tight windows) on the season. By comparison, Dart has nine of those. Is it just subject to the person grading the throws? No idea; interesting nonetheless. Levis hasn't done a great job getting rid of the football. His offensive line isn't good relative to what was expected from the unit, but 29 percent of the pressures are Levis' fault. That's the sixth-highest percentage nationally among quarterbacks pressured at least 25 times on the season. Dart is at 20 percent in that stat.
As you can see here, Levis really throws the ball in the middle of the field, with 67.5 percent of his throws between the hashes. Seventeen percent of those come from screens and behind-the-line-of-scrimmage throws in the middle of the field. It's pretty 50-50 on teams blitzing or not blitzing Kentucky on passing plays, and I don't see much difference in production either way. The stats are quite similar, with pressure, accuracy, etc. Kentucky runs screens 10 percent of the time and is play-action 32 percent of the time. On play-action passes, Lewis holds the ball an average of 3.26 seconds compared to 2.57 seconds for normal dropbacks.
Kentucky's receivers have done a good job getting separation. There aren't a lot of contested catches, and while Levis can certainly fit the ball into tight windows, he hasn't done a lot of it. Receivers are open but have eight dropped passes. Ole Miss, for comparison, has two, and one of those is from Zach Evans. Levis really really lethal throwing into the second level on the intermediate passes, and he's good at giving the receivers opportunity to run. UK is averaging more yards per attempt on intermediate throws than deep throws. That's where his arm strength and accuracy have really shined so far this season.
Kentucky is the most balanced team I've seen as far as running direction. Ole Miss trends heavily to the left side, for example. At each gap, compared to the same gap on the other side, the numbers for Kentucky are similar. JS is jet sweep, by the way. 1st is runs for first downs and 10+ is runs for 10 or more yards. Also, as you'll notice, UK has only three rushing touchdowns. They throw it no matter where they are on the field. Maybe that changes with Chris Rodriguez back, though. I'm hesitant to go too deep into rushing numbers since he's been out. With Levis, Ole Miss has to pressure him because he will take sacks and not force the ball. And tackle, tackle, tackle. That has to be better than last week. Kentucky gets a ton of junk yards after catches. He's not throwing into coverage, but he is making it easy for the Wildcat receivers to do work once they have the ball.
We've talked a good bit about UK's offensive line being an issue, and Levis has been pressured on 41 percent of his dropbacks this season. He's been sacked 15 times, thrown five passes away due to pressure and had two balls batted down. Despite that, he's completing 67 percent of his passes and has 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.
I was surprised by PFF giving him only two big-time throws (down the field passes into tight windows) on the season. By comparison, Dart has nine of those. Is it just subject to the person grading the throws? No idea; interesting nonetheless. Levis hasn't done a great job getting rid of the football. His offensive line isn't good relative to what was expected from the unit, but 29 percent of the pressures are Levis' fault. That's the sixth-highest percentage nationally among quarterbacks pressured at least 25 times on the season. Dart is at 20 percent in that stat.
As you can see here, Levis really throws the ball in the middle of the field, with 67.5 percent of his throws between the hashes. Seventeen percent of those come from screens and behind-the-line-of-scrimmage throws in the middle of the field. It's pretty 50-50 on teams blitzing or not blitzing Kentucky on passing plays, and I don't see much difference in production either way. The stats are quite similar, with pressure, accuracy, etc. Kentucky runs screens 10 percent of the time and is play-action 32 percent of the time. On play-action passes, Lewis holds the ball an average of 3.26 seconds compared to 2.57 seconds for normal dropbacks.
Kentucky's receivers have done a good job getting separation. There aren't a lot of contested catches, and while Levis can certainly fit the ball into tight windows, he hasn't done a lot of it. Receivers are open but have eight dropped passes. Ole Miss, for comparison, has two, and one of those is from Zach Evans. Levis really really lethal throwing into the second level on the intermediate passes, and he's good at giving the receivers opportunity to run. UK is averaging more yards per attempt on intermediate throws than deep throws. That's where his arm strength and accuracy have really shined so far this season.
Kentucky is the most balanced team I've seen as far as running direction. Ole Miss trends heavily to the left side, for example. At each gap, compared to the same gap on the other side, the numbers for Kentucky are similar. JS is jet sweep, by the way. 1st is runs for first downs and 10+ is runs for 10 or more yards. Also, as you'll notice, UK has only three rushing touchdowns. They throw it no matter where they are on the field. Maybe that changes with Chris Rodriguez back, though. I'm hesitant to go too deep into rushing numbers since he's been out. With Levis, Ole Miss has to pressure him because he will take sacks and not force the ball. And tackle, tackle, tackle. That has to be better than last week. Kentucky gets a ton of junk yards after catches. He's not throwing into coverage, but he is making it easy for the Wildcat receivers to do work once they have the ball.
