There was almost a palpable cognitive dissonance among the Florida and Kentucky play callers on Saturday night. The two offenses were far better at throwing than running, but you could tell they badly wanted to establish the run.
A lot of that is the personalities of Dan Mullen and Eddie Gran, but also every turnover in the game came on pass plays. The teams had high efficiency through the air punctuated by some heinous interceptions. If either side could have run well, they’d have taken that avenue in a heartbeat.
And yet, as the advanced stats show, both teams really were far better at throwing, turnovers aside, and running just enough to keep the pass open was all they needed to do.