![]() After really pushing the pace with a no-huddle attack at UC, Gran's offense became very plodding as they leaned on a power run game behind a strong offensive line while getting their quarterbacks to manage the game. Mark Stoops had finally found his winning formula and they stuck with the identity.įor that identity to succeed, it took a pretty substantial transformation from their new offensive coordinator. All of a sudden, Kentucky had two 1,000 yard rushers and beat the Heisman Trophy winner on the road as four touchdown underdog on Thanksgiving Saturday. The Wildcats quickly transformed into a ball control offense after Stephen Johnson took over behind center and the staff realized they had a potential superstar in Benny Snell. However, everything fell apart in the second 30 minutes with UK unable to get first downs and Mark Stoops' defense constantly put in some tough situations. Playing Southern Miss, former blue-chipper Drew Barker threw four touchdowns passes as Kentucky build a 35-10 lead with under a minute remaining to play in the first half. In his first game at Kentucky, the Wildcats lit the world on fire. What we saw next was some major growth from Eddie Gran. ![]() However, he was bringing in a coordinator that still used tempo and could be a little pass happy. Stoops was set to be on his third offensive coordinator in three seasons and was finally ready to move away from the Air Raid. The Wildcats were fresh off consecutive second half collapses after strong starts. It's no surprise that Mark Stoops wanted to bring his former co-worker to Lexington to fix what was a trainwreck after the Shannon Dawson experiment.Īfter 2015, Mark Stoops was in some pretty dire straits after three years and a 12-24 record. The offenses were balanced, explosive and efficient all three years Gran was holding the play sheet. Success rate is a measure that makes sure you're staying ahead of the chains in a down-by-down basis (gain 50% of yards needed on first down, 70% of yards needed on second down, 100% of yards needed on third and fourth down) and the Bearcats had finishes of 47, 25 and 11 in that metric. Third down offense was also a strength reaching as high as second in 2015, but they had some issues finishing red zone possessions with touchdowns. This led to three top-50 offensive efficiency finishes in SP+ as they were really effective in yards per play each season. ![]() They leaned on a strong pass game for explosiveness while being efficient enough on the ground to create balance. They rarely ever got under center, pushed the tempo and threw the ball around the yard. Gran and quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw developed a very modern philosophy in their first crack at running an offense. While working at Nippert Stadium, Gran had an efficient passing offense that played with pace. During that time, the Bearcats were 25-14 with three bowl appearances and 17 conference wins. Gran spent three seasons coaching in the Big East and American Athletic Conference at Cincinnati in from 2013-15. After crunching the numbers, it's very easy to see Gran's evolution as a play-caller and his versatility is a big reason why Kentucky is 32-20 with four bowl appearances since he arrived. Despite being often criticized, Gran has proven to be a very important piece in the program's recent success and it has resulted in a very robust pay raise that will pocket him $900,000 this year. Seven years later and he has now become one of the most respected coordinators in the SEC.Īfter touching on multiple topics ( quarterbacks, offensive line, pass defense) we are taking our advanced stat series in another direction. After a very long wait, Gran finally got his shot be an offensive play-caller when his former boss Tommy Tuberville called when he took over at Cincinnati. ![]() ![]() After spending 15 seasons as an assistant in the SEC, running backs coach Eddie Gran headed to Tallahassee to work for Jimbo Fisher from 2010-12 serving as associate head coach. ![]()
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