Much is being made of the sluggish offense the fans have seen the last three weeks. What was an offense that was on a fast track has suddenly derailed and struggled to pull itself back upon the track. There are many possible answers to the problem ranging from injuries to toughness of competition finally catching up with the Cats. Some say it a case of Kentucky not being accustomed to winning big.

Much of the criticism has been pointed directly at the quarterback not performing up to expectations. True or not, this is fair because when things are going good quarterbacks get most of the glory and when things are not going so good they should also get most of the heat.

“Leaders are defined during adversity, not success,” Coach Rich Brooks has said. Since Andre Woodson is the leader of the Kentucky Wildcat offense, we went to him to get his perception on the recent struggles.

Andre Woodson saw the problem related to the game plan being fine, but execution lacking at opportune moments. “We have been doing a great job of moving the ball the entire game," Andre Woodson explained. "It’s just that when we get down into the red zone or deep in the opponents territory, we kill ourselves with penalties and mistakes and we can’t figure the pass coverage."

Andre Woodson continued, "It is something we have to clean up and I think everybody’s head is still in the same place. We’ve just got to continue in the game plan because this is the same offense that’s been getting us past a lot if those teams and winning games."

Despite the lack of execution, Andre Woodson also gave credit to opposing team defenses. "It’s not what we have been doing. It is that a lot of teams have recognized we are having trouble picking up things with the front of the d-line when they do a lot of twists and things like that. There’s not a lot of time for our routes to develop and really picking on their secondary. But we have done a great job this week in understanding whom that we have got to go after."

Kentucky's offensive line is more talented but much less experienced than in reason seasons. This lends itself to a slippage in technique when the young o-line doesn’t practice full speed for a period of time. “Yeah, I think it is that and the fact we haven’t seen this 32-defense all year until South Carolina,” Andre Woodson explained.

Andre Woodson said they didn’t see the defense since the South Carolina game until they played Florida and they pulled it out and got to him. And UK has seen it every week since then. He said it is true the offensive line is inexperienced but they have done a good job this week in trying to pick it up.

If the coaches are to bring about a halt to the twenty-two year Tennessee reign, the offensive line must do a better job blocking the Tennessee defense, and Kentucky's leader of the offense must capitalize on his opportunities.

[More at kentucky.scout.com]