Shannon Dawson Talks O-line, His Coaching Approach, Georgia and More

From a fan’s perspective, the performance by Kentucky’s offense against Tennessee was nothing to write home about.

After reviewing the game tape, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has a different view.

"We ran the ball well. Everything we schemed up in the run game went well. I thought we blocked well. I thought we ran the ball well", he said Tuesday evening after practice.

All season long the talented Vols defense has stymied their opponent’s ground game.

Dawson said that his unit performed the best against the Tennessee front seven than any team had all year.

"I thought our O-line in the run game targeted them and opened up bigger holes than were opened all year."

Coming off of two blowout losses, not many Big Blue fans would blame the coaching staff for cracking down harder on the players, a view that Dawson does not share.

"I stay consistent. We don’t change much in our scheme and we don’t change much in our approach."

In fact, Dawson sees little value in changing his approach this late in the season.

"To me, there are flaws in changing your approach. I stay the course. The people that panic, in my opinion, don’t do very well", he explained.

Another reason Dawson might not be willing to change his approach is his belief that the offense has performed well so far this season.

"There are not a lot of things that we are doing that we are doing that bad", Dawson said before stating that many of UK’s offensive woes come down to simple execution. "We are making critical errors at times that kill us."

Coach Dawson used the example of Patrick Towles’ interception to further explain his point.

"If we waited a split second longer, it’s a 30 or 40 (yard gain) or maybe a touchdown."

Mikel Horton rushed for over one hundred years in relief of the injured Boom Williams, but Dawson stated that despite the stark differences between the two UK’s rushing strategy will remain the same.

"Schematically when we call the same play it may look different with Boom in there than when Mikel’s in there but we are trying to create gaps in the defense and hand it (the football) to them or get it to them in space."

Earlier this week the team had a player’s only meeting to address the losing streak. Dawson thought that was a good thing.

"I think there are times when everybody, including myself, needs to be set straight. I don’t think there is anything wrong with having meetings and having leaders stand up and voice their opinion", said Dawson

This week the Kentucky offense will face a long, athletic Georgia defense that has an outstanding pass rush, or in Dawson’s words, "About the same as everybody else."