Seniors heed Diaz’s message
pass breakup that was almost intercepted and two quarterback hurries. He felt Diaz’s impact as he provided an addition voice while defensive coordinator Blake Baker maintained his play-calling duties.
“He just demanded that level of urgency,” Pinckney said. “It can come from the players, but when you start something, nobody else knows it how you know it, so he knows what we need on the defensive side of the ball and I think he’s emphasized it throughout the week and I think that was one of the things that helped us play a great game.
“It’s just motivation. Somebody’s just in your ear consistently. Coach Baker does a great job of it, but nobody does a great job of it like how coach Diaz does it. He’s just constantly in your ear, constantly improving the little small things that really count.”
With the linebackers setting the tone, other veterans on the rest of the defense rose up around them. Senior striker Romeo Finley had a teamhigh eight tackles. Junior cornerback Trajan Bandy was the ACC’s Defensive Back of the Week with six tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.
were epidemic.
“When we go into games, we always say we have to be hard to run against and we’ve got to affect the quarterback,” UF defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “We didn’t do that, so we didn’t win the game. If you go back and look when we did that this year, we’ve won games.”
Overall, UF just seemed to be a step slow at LSU.
“It wasn’t something they were doing,” Burney said. “We just got to go out and execute more and play faster.”
Another key issue was the absence of edge rusher Jon Greenard and end Jabari Zuniga, two fifthyear seniors and among the best at their positions in the SEC.
Greenard, the team’s top pass rusher, played just a few snaps due to an ankle injury sustained a week earlier against Auburn. Zuniga was back in action for the first time since injuring his ankle Sept. 14 at Kentucky, but left the LSU game during the first half after he re-aggravated the injury.
Without the two veteran playmakers, the Gators could not contain Burrow, who rushed for 43 yards and repeatedly escaped
Up front, the insertion of redshirt freshman Greg Rousseau into the starting lineup as defensive end provided a boost. Junior defensive tackle Jonathan Ford also had arguably his best game of his college career with four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
Ford, who had only made three tackles in five games before Friday, began to get his pad level lower, as was stressed to him by UM coaches.
“He’s had a lot of opportunities to make a lot of tackles for loss this year, and a lot of it has been pad level at the point of attack,” Baker said. “I know that was a huge point of emphasis in practice last week — and especially a taller guy like himself.”
“Unblockable,” said Ford, a former Dillard standout, of how he feels when he gets lower. “Coach always tells me, but that past week, he was telling me, ‘You’re getting better at it. You’re using your hands. You’re using your hands.’ And I guess he [saw] something in me, and I guess I [saw] something in myself.”
Ford said there was a greater level of focus for Miami’s defense leading up to the victory against the Cavaliers.
“We do ‘players coaching players,’ and everybody said something to each other that showed that they have confidence in each other,” Ford said. “So, once we got out there, we just played as one.”
There was added motivation for the Hurricanes defense to have a bounceback performance against Virginia. Now, the unit looks to keep the progress going against a 1-5 Georgia Tech team on Saturday at noon.
pressure. When given time, Burrow picked apart the Gators’ vaunted secondary, finishing 21-of-24 for 293 yards and three touchdowns.
Greenard’s and Zuniga’s availability at South Carolina will be a game-time decision.
Veteran linebacker Jeremiah Moon, heralded firstyear freshman pass rusher Khris Bogle and reserve ends Luke Ancrum and Zach Carter must take larger roles and raise their level of play.
“It affects us when we’re missing somebody who makes a difference on the team,” Shuler said. “But we believe in the next man. We got players and guys who can ball, so you gotta be ready when your name is called.”
Grantham did not seem discouraged by his defense’s flop at LSU or concerned about the Gators’ ability to bounce back.
“They’re kids, man,” Grantham said. “They’re ready to roll. It’s just a matter of understanding we need to be exact in what we want and make sure we’re all on the same page and make plays.”