forums

2015 Miss St vs Southern Miss - Coach Diaz

I

iLoveTDs

Junior
Banned
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
2,945
The Good, the bad, & the ugly

Southern Miss's offense (per FootballOutsiders, advanced statistics) was 43rd in nation.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2015 NCAA S&P+ RATINGS, OFFENSE

Per NCAA.com it was 12th.
Total Offense | FBS Football Statistics - NCAA.com

Southern Miss QB was 8th in country in passing. They finished year 9-5 (7-1). They aren't a bad team and the game was played @ their place to open season.


The Ugly
*** The 1st half of this game reeks of D'onofrio-esque bend don't break. (minus the occasional sack and/or TFL)

-middle of the field constantly left open
-playing 8 yards off WRs
-the flats aren't being covered
-can't get off the field, at all (we are going to get murdered on TOP with Diaz as DC, so expect it)
-long dink and dunk drives
-QB completing 70% or more of his passes in 1st half
-so many soft spots in this defense (WRs were WIDE open all game)


The Bad
-Southern Miss QB ended game 30-44 with 311 yds
-Gave up 237 yards of total offense to Southern Miss in the 1st half
-Gave up 20 1st downs
-Southern Miss had the ball for 23 of 30 mins in the 1st half
-TEs over the middle kill Diaz's defenses. Slot WRs are dangerous too.
-Safeties weren't playing the ball in the air well at all.
-Time of Posession.... you're going to pull your hair out watching other teams bleed the clock out


The Good
-Southern Miss had 1st and goal from the 3 right before the end of the half, with a chance to take the lead, and Miss St stuffed 4 straight runs up the middle.
-Miss St held Southern Miss to 90 yards below their season average
-Southern Miss was only 4 of 17 on 3rd downs
-There is a lot of pressure on the QB, if you force him to 2nd and 3rd reads then the defense shines! (problem is the 1st read, underneath, is almost always there)
-Southern Miss was held to 2.8 yds per rush
-The adjustments at half-time were good, not great. Held their QB to only 100 yards passing and 0 TDs in 2nd half. (Southern Miss dropped a TD at one point)

*Miss St only returned 4 starters from the previous year. Diaz had his work cut out for him, and it was game 1 and on the road. Miss St's strength was their DL - back 7 was mediocre at best.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMfXvCio9Bo
 
Last edited:
Advertisement
I have not watched this video yet but your description goes along with most of the analysis of Diaz's defense. Personally I am excited to see how Diaz does here and I would suspect that he will have more talent to work with here generally speaking. Obviously I have my concerns. I keep reading how good TE's and slot WR's constantly hurt his defenses. There is also a pattern of allowing long sustained drives to go along with his defenses apparent proclivity for giving up big plays. These trends are somewhat disconcerting but are tempered by the hope that Diaz has learned and grown as a DC and the expectation that he will have significantly better talent here than what he has worked with in the past.

The thing that worries me is that the above trends may be indicative of dogmatic adherence to scheme regardless of the opponent or situation. Sound familiar? Now I'm not trying to equate Diaz's ability as a DC to Dorito's but it is something worth noting. To me a great DC isn't necessarily defined by his scheme but rather his ability to devise effective game plans based on the opponent and their respective strengths and weaknesses. I love the fact that Diaz is aggressive with his front seven resulting in a good amount of sacks and TFL's. The problem is that if your defense is continuously giving up big plays and methodical clock milking drives then the purpose is defeated. I have not delved into the film of Diaz's defenses just yet but it seems to me that he is having consistent problem in defending longer yardage to go situations. If your defense is creating a good amount of sacks and TFL's on 1st down then the offenses ability to convert first downs should greatly decrease. Like I said earlier, I have not yet studied his defensive statistics in depth so I could be wrong about this.

At this point I'm going to trust Mark Richt's decision on the Diaz hire. There are many examples of coordinators who go through several years and stops before they finally figure out how to put it all together and perfect what they trying to accomplish in terms of scheme, play calling and adjustments. Hopefully Diaz becomes another of those examples. I think he has the ability in him. Working in the type of atmosphere that an experienced and quality coach like Mark Richt brings will certainly help. Having a DL coach like Kool will also increase his chances for success. It's going to be very interesting to watch for sure.
 
FrancisSaywer said:
I have not watched this video yet but your description goes along with most of the analysis of Diaz's defense. Personally I am excited to see how Diaz does here and I would suspect that he will have more talent to work with here generally speaking. Obviously I have my concerns. I keep reading how good TE's and slot WR's constantly hurt his defenses. There is also a pattern of allowing long sustained drives to go along with his defenses apparent proclivity for giving up big plays. These trends are somewhat disconcerting but are tempered by the hope that Diaz has learned and grown as a DC and the expectation that he will have significantly better talent here than what he has worked with in the past.

The thing that worries me is that the above trends may be indicative of dogmatic adherence to scheme regardless of the opponent or situation. Sound familiar? Now I'm not trying to equate Diaz's ability as a DC to Dorito's but it is something worth noting. To me a great DC isn't necessarily defined by his scheme but rather his ability to devise effective game plans based on the opponent and their respective strengths and weaknesses. I love the fact that Diaz is aggressive with his front seven resulting in a good amount of sacks and TFL's. The problem is that if your defense is continuously giving up big plays and methodical clock milking drives then the purpose is defeated. I have not delved into the film of Diaz's defenses just yet but it seems to me that he is having consistent problem in defending longer yardage to go situations. If your defense is creating a good amount of sacks and TFL's on 1st down then the offenses ability to convert first downs should greatly decrease. Like I said earlier, I have not yet studied his defensive statistics in depth so I could be wrong about this.

At this point I'm going to trust Mark Richt's decision on the Diaz hire. There are many examples of coordinators who go through several years and stops before they finally figure out how to put it all together and perfect what they trying to accomplish in terms of scheme, play calling and adjustments. Hopefully Diaz becomes another of those examples. I think he has the ability in him. Working in the type of atmosphere that an experienced and quality coach like Mark Richt brings will certainly help. Having a DL coach like Kool will also increase his chances for success. It's going to be very interesting to watch for sure.
Click to expand...

solid perspective. Thanks for sharing
 
Here's my glimpse of hope; Richt. With the old regime, we had a bit of nepotism....a whole lotta bit of it. You had a coach who would rather die than to correct his friend's mistakes....and it was the head man's scheme. With Richt, that's not going to cut it. Adjustments will be made...he's a real coach. I know he's letting Diaz run the show on Def, but if we start bleeding points and yards unnecessarily, the reigns will be pulled in. Also, I have faith in Kool and Panda...two top notch position coaches. I think whatever flaws his scheme may possess, will be absorbed by a true ball coach and great position coaches.
 
Advertisement
Manny Diaz pre -southern Miss, in support of the OP; this video gives insight into how Diaz prepped his Miss ST defense to Southern Miss.

[video=youtube_share;PWgYCLkW90M]http://youtu.be/PWgYCLkW90M[/video]
 
It's all hope with Diaz because his actual on field production has been terribly spotty marked by some bad trends like giving up tons of 2nd and longs and getting gutted several times if he faced a QB with a pulse.

The hope is that he can eventually settle in here and produce consistently excellent defenses like Venables. Venables was on the verge of being run out of Oklahoma, and he got off to a poor start at Clemson. He was able to get it turned around at Clemson.

The hope is we see a similar transformation from Diaz. But, make no mistake, it's all just hope based on the ability to recruit animals here because his history isn't very good.
 
Rellyrell said:
Here's my glimpse of hope; Richt. With the old regime, we had a bit of nepotism....a whole lotta bit of it. You had a coach who would rather die than to correct his friend's mistakes....and it was the head man's scheme. With Richt, that's not going to cut it. Adjustments will be made...he's a real coach. I know he's letting Diaz run the show on Def, but if we start bleeding points and yards unnecessarily, the reigns will be pulled in. Also, I have faith in Kool and Panda...two top notch position coaches. I think whatever flaws his scheme may possess, will be absorbed by a true ball coach and great position coaches.
Click to expand...

True. As O.C., I hope Richt exposes Diaz's weaknesses in the spring game and future practices, and as H.C., promptly tells Diaz to fix it or GTFO.
 
Advertisement
MSU head coach discusses his defense in the MIss St vs So Miss post game. One thing that stuck out to me was his comment about the high number of missed tackles by the Miss St defense. I wonder if Diaz's emphasis on changing tackling styles ended up hindering defenders in their initial game.

Corrected Video from 2015
[video=youtube_share;0elnwTersO8]http://youtu.be/0elnwTersO8[/video]
 
Last edited:
Paranos said:
MSU head coach discusses his defense in the MIss St vs So Miss post game. One thing that stuck out to me was his comment about the high number of missed tackles by the Miss St defense. I wonder if Diaz's emphasis on changing tackling styles ended up hindering defenders in their initial game.

[video=youtube_share;uXClfhKQTnk]http://youtu.be/uXClfhKQTnk[/video]
Click to expand...

That's the post game video from 2014, not '15.

So the DC for Mullens at that time was Geoff Collins (who is now the DC at Florida).
 
I think often times, talent dictates how you call a defense. Ideally, everyone would love their defense to be aggressive and limit big plays. Easier said than done. Especially if you don't have dominant players on that side of the ball. With Miami's limited returning experience at corner, I believe Diaz might be a bit handcuffed. At least in season one. I would not be surprised to see the better teams on the schedule muster long drives as he may be concerned about getting beat over the top in tight coverage. A lot of the secondary's deficiencies can be masked by the front seven and I think that's really going to be the key to the defense in 2016. There's nobody at corner that you can count on to lock down on a receiver, so it's going to be up to the front four to apply pressure while leaving the LB crew to clean up on check downs and dump-offs. Tackling is definitely going to be a premium. I'm looking forward seeing what he can do with the players available to him here. While overall talent level may not be top-notch by Miami standards, it's certainly better than anything he was working with at Mississippi State or Louisiana Tech. I'm expecting a Venables-like jump. Especially if they can infuse more talent into the backfield in coming seasons.
 
Advertisement
iLoveTDs said:
The Good, the bad, & the ugly

Southern Miss's offense (per FootballOutsiders, advanced statistics) was 43rd in nation.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2015 NCAA S&P+ RATINGS, OFFENSE

Per NCAA.com it was 12th.
Total Offense | FBS Football Statistics - NCAA.com

Southern Miss QB was 8th in country in passing. They finished year 9-5 (7-1). They aren't a bad team and the game was played @ their place to open season.


The Ugly
*** The 1st half of this game reeks of D'onofrio-esque bend don't break. (minus the occasional sack and/or TFL)

-middle of the field constantly left open
-playing 8 yards off WRs
-the flats aren't being covered
-can't get off the field, at all (we are going to get murdered on TOP with Diaz as DC, so expect it)
-long dink and dunk drives
-QB completing 70% or more of his passes in 1st half
-so many soft spots in this defense (WRs were WIDE open all game)


The Bad
-Southern Miss QB ended game 30-44 with 311 yds
-Gave up 237 yards of total offense to Southern Miss in the 1st half
-Gave up 20 1st downs
-Southern Miss had the ball for 23 of 30 mins in the 1st half
-TEs over the middle kill Diaz's defenses. Slot WRs are dangerous too.
-Safeties weren't playing the ball in the air well at all.
-Time of Posession.... you're going to pull your hair out watching other teams bleed the clock out


The Good
-Southern Miss had 1st and goal from the 3 right before the end of the half, with a chance to take the lead, and Miss St stuffed 4 straight runs up the middle.
-Miss St held Southern Miss to 90 yards below their season average
-Southern Miss was only 4 of 17 on 3rd downs
-There is a lot of pressure on the QB, if you force him to 2nd and 3rd reads then the defense shines! (problem is the 1st read, underneath, is almost always there)
-Southern Miss was held to 2.8 yds per rush
-The adjustments at half-time were good, not great. Held their QB to only 100 yards passing and 0 TDs in 2nd half. (Southern Miss dropped a TD at one point)

*Miss St only returned 4 starters from the previous year. Diaz had his work cut out for him, and it was game 1 and on the road. Miss St's strength was their DL - back 7 was mediocre at best.
Click to expand...

Good post iLoveSTDs.
Lots of MissState and LaTech games and I've been watching my share to get an idea of this guy's work.
One thing I've noticed thus far is that his defense does on occasion get burned because of his blitzing, which
leaves folks out of positon.
I've actually been more impressed with the Mizzou defense, which I have been watching because of Coach Kool.
They really coached up that d.
Anyways, appreciate what you did.
We could use more of these posts!
 
Advertisement
MedleyCane said:
mirvin88 said:
Wow, great new topic

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Actually, it is a good and the OP put some work into it.
Personally, I rather read this then the other posts following the scumbags traitors like Tyler Byrd,etc.
Click to expand...

No need for this post as I already said to the poster it's a good post. Also, you forgot to put topic after the word good. Just saying.
 
Some posters are mistaken about MSU's talent. They've had some very good players. Look at the draft picks.

I don't think the upgrade at UM is nearly as stark as many think. As has been discussed extensively, our DB-depth is abysmal. And while I'm thrilled about how well Shaq and Pinckney are doing, two true freshmen LB starters raises concerns about the upperclassmen.
 
drifters1234 said:
Some posters are mistaken about MSU's talent. They've had some very good players. Look at the draft picks.

I don't think the upgrade at UM is nearly as stark as many think. As has been discussed extensively, our DB-depth is abysmal. And while I'm thrilled about how well Shaq and Pinckney are doing, two true freshmen LB starters raises concerns about the upperclassmen.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. They def had some talent, especially up front.

But they did lose a lot of draft picks in 2014, so Diaz had only 4 returning starters.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top