Wonder why nobody is talking about total defense, pass defense, and 3rd down defense...
3rd down conversion % - 37.4 vs our 41.7
Pass Defense - 60.78%, 6.6 YPA, 225 YPG vs our 60.45%, 6.5 YPA, 218 YPG
Total Defense - 402 YPG, 5.3 YPP vs our 432 YPG, 5.9 YPP
Also, Miss St was 28th in the nation at 0.316 points per play on defense vs Miami's 79th at 0.413. Miss St gave up 7.8 pts per 1st quarter, 6.8 in the 2nd, 6.1 in the 3rd, and 3.4 in the 4th. Miami gave up 7.5, 8.7, 4.8, 9.6. Miss St had their D on the field for 33:16 per game which was 121st in the nation. Miami was 29:27 which was 54th. Part of that is that their offense was not that great even with a Sr Prescott.
If you want stats to cheer you up, then realize that Miss State gave up 2.6 offensive TDs per game which ranked them 30th. Miami gave up 3.4 which ranked them 73rd. Miss St was 11th in Red Zone Defense with a 72.50%. Miami was 89.36% which ranked them 107th. Miss St gave up 22.8 offensive points per game ranking them 36th. Miami was ranked 89th at 28.9 offensive points allowed per game. Miami gave forced 4.2 punts per game which was 107th in the nation. Miss State forced 5.4 which was 48th.
I will also add when you look at their 9.5 points given up per 2nd half you will see that that ranks 21st in the nation. Miami's 14.3 is 81st. Take what you want from all of this. I am a believer that the offense at MSU hurt Diaz's defense and he could produce some really good defenses at Miami and even a top 30 defense this year. However, I also realize that he runs some exotic blitzes that I am not a fan of at times. I've heard Richt mention that he'd love to sit in Cover 2 and Quarters coverage like the old Miami teams, so maybe he and Diaz talked about scheme and Diaz won't run some pressure packages for the heck of it and will instead rely more on Kul's DL and allow the back 7 to shut everything else down.