Miami Hurricanes DC Manny Diaz Discusses Defensive Performance

The Hurricanes seemed fatigued earlier in the game. Richt thought the weather cooling off in the second helped the Hurricanes conditioning. Diaz spoke about how that influenced Miami’s play on the field.

"“If it was only one guy you could deal with that. But that’s where I felt like when you get tired, the easy thing to think is that you can’t run as fast or you’re winded… So, what it looked like to me was mental fatigue, that’s why I’m so proud of the second half performance. To be able to turn it around and all the sudden being able to stop letting guys run wide open in our secondary and force the quarterback into mistakes and force him to complete balls into tight windows is really what turned the game around ultimately.”"

Substituting with the players, not in game shape and the lack of depth proved difficult for Diaz.

"“The issue is at some point we didn’t have someone to put in. That’s really the hardest part. When there’s a guy who’s out there that you know is struggling and you don’t have a guy to really replace him with."

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What our training staff did, what our strength staff did, nutrition, our administration allowing us to go to Orlando and just eat and just give us the best possible chance to compete in this game. I think this is going to be a win down the road I think we’re really gonna look back on and see this was a good win to get our season going.”