After stellar outing, UM ‘D’ aims to get better
CORAL GABLES It was about as remarkable a performance as Miami Hurricanes defensive coordinator Manny Diaz could remember being a part of — as either a coach or a fan.
In No. 16 Miami’s 47-10 win over North Carolina on Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium, the Hurricanes forced six turnovers. The defense scored three touchdowns. Despite the fact the Tar Heels ran 75 plays and held the ball for more than 33 minutes, that same Miami defense held North Carolina to just 2-of-13 on third-down conversions. The Hurricanes also collected 14 tackles for loss and sacked quarterbacks Nathan Elliott and Chazz Surratt three times.
“It was a sight to see,” Diaz said later.
But here’s a sign of how much the Hurricanes defense has improved since Diaz arrived in Coral Gables as part of Mark Richt’s staff three years ago — neither he nor many of his players were truly happy with Thursday’s effort.
While the six turnovers marked the first time the Hurricanes had accomplished that feat since a 2012 win over North Carolina State, the Tar Heels were able to run the ball effectively, collecting 215 yards on the ground and nearly matching Miami’s 229 rushing yards.
And while the three defensive touchdowns marked the first time since 2000 that a Hurricanes defense had produced that many scores, Surratt finished the day as North Carolina’s secondleading rusher with 69 yards. North Carolina produced 13 runs of 10 yards or more.
For Diaz and the Hurricanes, those numbers are unacceptable, particularly when they know Miami still has to face two of the ACC’s top young running backs — FSU’s Cam Akers and Boston College’s AJ Dillon in the coming weeks.
“There was a lot of really disappointing things. We played the quarterback run game very poorly. You could see some of the effects of maybe the short week
and the preparation and just trying to grind it and pack it all in. And they obviously were committed to running the quarterback,” Diaz said. “They had some new things that they had not shown the first couple games. But it was just a guy would do something wrong on this play, and a guy would do something wrong on that play … We weren’t playing clean in the run game and we knew if we could stop
the run they were going to have a hard time beating us throwing the ball. We came out and we were better at that in the third quarter.”
Added defensive end Jonathan Garvin, who was one of Miami’s defenders to score Thursday, “We are going to be our biggest critics. We are going to go in the film room and we are not going to be smiling in there. Like it is going to be serious. Even if we did have a good game, it still could be better. That is the way it always is."
That said, the Hurricanes — who entered Thursday’s
game as the national leaders in both tackles for loss and opponent third-down conversion percentage, understand they’ve made significant improvements since their 33-17 season-opening loss to LSU.
The goal now is to continue improving, particularly given how wide-open the ACC’s Coastal Division appears to be and a stretch of seven conference games ahead of them.
At Miami, Diaz knows, even 37-point wins aren’t necessarily enough, not when the Hurricanes know they can play better.
“Can we put somebody away? That’s sort of that pressure at the University of Miami. It’s not a burden, but you should win games in this manner,” Diaz said. “We challenged them at halftime to do that. We made a big deal ... that [UNC] had 10 [points] and it was important that they stayed at 10. We wanted a second-half shutout and we were able to get it.”