Diaz must solve UM’s shortcomings on defense

The irony of UM’s turnaround under Manny Diaz over the past three weeks? It’s the area of Diaz’s expertise that has remained the roster’s biggest shortcoming.

Diaz deserves credit for changing to a spread offense, hiring Rhett Lashlee as offensive coordinator and fixing the quarterback situation.

But the Canes defense remains miles from the level of dominance flashed during snippets of that 2017 season, when the Canes permitted 10 points in a win against No. 13 Virginia Tech and eight points in a trouncing of No. 3 Notre Dame.

Diaz — who took over defensive play-calling duties this season — correctly notes that even though the Canes have allowed a lot of points and yards, they’re stiffening defensively late in games.

On their final two possessions of the game against UM, the Canes’ five conference opponents — Virginia, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech — have produced just two field goals. So that’s six points in 10 possessions.

He also correctly notes that

UM played well — for the most part — in the second half defensively Saturday against Georgia Tech.

“Those are signs of what a dominant defense can be,” he said. But “we can’t say we’re a great defense except for these four plays. [The defensive inconsistency] has been frustrating. We’re working like crazy to get it corrected. Our players see when it’s right, it’s really, really right.”

The late-game performance in recent weeks is a big part of the glass-half-full view of this defense, along with the growth of the young defensive backs (Kamren Kinchens, James Williams, Avantae Williams, Marcus Clarke), some good work by pass rushers the past three weeks, somewhat improved run defense and competent tackling the past three weeks after the Canes were atrocious in that area for the first six games.

But the Canes are still in the bottom third of the country in too many defensive areas:

They’re tied with Arizona for worst in the country in red-zone defense; UM opponents have scored on 26 of 27 trips to the red zone (including 17 touchdowns).

The Canes have only eight takeaways, which is 114th in the country (out of 130 FBS schools) and ahead of only one Atlantic Coast Conference school (Syracuse). That’s stunning for the school that created the turnover chain.

The Canes are 112th in passing yards permitted per game at 269.8.

They’re 104th in yards per completion allowed at 11.4.

They’re 95th in scoring defense, relinquishing 30.2 points per game.

UM is 84th in yards permitted per game (405.2).

They have given up 190 first downs, which is 74th.

And they’re allowing 41.1 percent conversion on third down, which is 57th — about average.

So where is the Canes defense in the top 50? Three key areas:

They’re tied for 12th in tackles for loss per game at 6.9. They’re 30th in sacks with 24. They’re 47th in yards allowed per rush, at 4.01, and rushing yards allowed per game (135.4). So the rush defense has improved after the North Carolina debacle last December.

The personnel issues that remain: Decent or pretty good — but not elite — defensive line play; substandard play at linebacker (Keontra Smith — who has flashed — was UM’s lowestgraded player defensively against Georgia Tech, per Pro Football Focus — and Corey Flagg was briefly benched and replaced by walk-on Ryan Ragone) and too many breakdowns in pass coverage at all levels.

Most everybody in the ACC scores; six of the 32 highestscoring offenses in the country play in the ACC, including UM — which ranks 32nd at 32.9 points per game.

The key to getting back to national contention? Recapturing the magic the program had defensively on those consecutive Saturday nights against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame four years ago. Finding linebackers the quality of Shaq Quarterman remains elusive for Diaz.

UM needs to snag at least two impact defensive players in the transfer portal to be a top-15caliber team next season.

Diaz made clear again Monday that the portal will be used to fill needs.

The question with every potential portal addition, Diaz said Monday, is “does this person add value to our team? It’s not what they do on tape. You have to do a lot of research. … We had guys we wanted to add [last offseason] and film backed it up and you talk to people are there are red flags. You are not recruiting a highlight; you are recruiting a person. Team morale is everything. If a guy is a problem, you’ve got two issues [on the field and in the locker room].”

With college football’s loosened transfer rules, “every college player is a free agent on a one-year contract where they don’t even have to see the year through,” Diaz said. “It’s going to be trickier now than ever. Kids will smash every record” for transfers this offseason.

CHATTER

I’m dumbfounded that TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal commended Denver’s Nikola Jokic for viciously elbowing the Heat’s Markieff Morris in the back during Monday’s game. “I like what the Joker did,” Shaq said. “[Morris] hit him intentional, unnecessary roughness. What do you do as a big guy? You hit him back.” Every national TV analyst blamed Morris.

“Erik Spoelstra is wrong,” TNT’s Charles Barkley said of Spoelstra calling Jokic’s play dirty. “I’m watching all these fools on television all day talking about this. First of all, Morris started it. Joker retaliated. People say, ‘He hit me in the back.’ If you hit me, you better not turn your damn back because I’m coming back at you. You can’t hit somebody and turn your back.”

We’re told that if the Dolphins had claimed Odell Beckham Jr. on waivers — not realistic because of his salary — he wouldn’t have been thrilled because he wanted to go to a winning team with a proven, established quarterback.

Why yes, Dolphins coaches this week subjected players to tape of Baltimore’s 59-10 shellacking of Miami to open the 2019 season. “I didn’t even know some of the guys I was lined up with in that game,”

Jerome Baker said this week. “I didn’t know their names.”

As MLB.com reported, the Marlins are considering trading one of their three pitchers with three-plus years of service time (it takes six to get to free agency): Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez or (their preference to

Elieser Hernandez.