The player’s didn’t no snow with an Orange Bowl birth at stake. We were completely outschemed by a guy who INTIMATELY knows the potential for disastrous failure inherent to the Diaz defense.
They invited the line upfield, pulled multiple lineman and had those hogs running at the linebackers full seed. There was NO HOPE from the first snap because of the GAME PLAN. Tackling wasn’t the problem. They were hitting the secondary UNTOUCHED play after play. Teams that completely gave up have performed better.
That was a complete system collapse and all the rah rah bullshyt or pride in the world wasn’t going to stop a record setting travesty.
Now I am not saying Diaz had us ready to play. He absolutely did not. But that game was a failure of the structural integrity of the defense itself. Not Diaz’s speech making ability. The players knew the plan would fail going in. They were right. Even if they payed harder, it wouldn’t have mattered.