Miami Hurricanes turnovers in 2017 were by design not luck
Diaz would take over as the Defensive Coordinator at Louisiana Tech in 2014. The year before Diaz’s arrival the Bulldogs forced 26 turnovers. They had eight interceptions in 2013 and 18 fumble recoveries.
The improvement under Diaz was extraordinary. LATech had 42 turnovers in 2014, 26 through interceptions and 16 via fumble recoveries.
The 2013 Louisiana Tech Football Team finished 61st nationally forcing turnovers, ninth overall in interceptions and 63rd in fumble recoveries. They improved in 2014 to 15th in turnovers, third in interceptions and second in fumble recoveries.
The 2014 Louisiana Tech defense was likely one of the best in the history of college football at forcing turnovers. Some might say that’s overstating it. In terms of facts, they were proficient. They played against competition that was level in their own conference.
The Bulldogs had 13 games of forcing two or more turnovers, seven games with two or more interceptions and five games with two or more fumble recoveries. The only team that did not turn the ball over in multiple games against LATech was Auburn. The Tigers played for the National Championship against FSU later that season.
Louisiana Tech ended that season with a victory over Illinois in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Bulldogs dominated Illinois in that game. The Illini had a victory over Pinstripe Bowl Champion Penn State in 2014.
In this case, somehow we will hear from the FSU bloggers that Auburn was only a good team against the Seminoles and not Diaz’s defense. Or the claim will be that proves that they were not good on defense. Did FSU get lucky with Winston’s touchdown at the end of the game?
Maybe used the money he saved on crab legs to pay off the ref. Not likely that happened.
Diaz returned to Starkville after one season in Ruston, Louisiana. His second stint coaching at Mississippi State under Mullen did not go as well. The 2015 Bulldogs were Diaz’s worst at turning the opponent over.
We will give the Spartans some slack, Notre Dame did return an interception for a touchdown against Michigan State. Barnett’s defense allowed 31 points. With the MSU offense only scoring 18 points, it was a complete disaster of an afternoon for the Spartans all around.