Manny Diaz on Canes and COVID, Mark Pope’s play, kicking ‘someone’s a--’ and 4th-and-1
So far so good for the Miami Hurricanes.
They woke up Monday ranked No. 17 in the AP Poll and are about to face No. 18 Louisville on the road at 7:30 p.m. Saturday — seemingly, as of now, healthy.
University of Miami coach Manny Diaz told WQAM on Monday morning that regarding his Canes amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced teams to cancel or postpone games (including one that moved UM’s Saturday game against Louisville to a nighttime kickoff from its original 3:30 p.m. time slot), “they have done what we have asked to protect each other, protect themselves. ...The virus is relentless and we have to be equally relentless.’’
UM’s game against the Cardinals is now at night because Virginia Tech vs. Virginia, originally in the 7:30 p.m. Saturday time slot, was postponed due to positive virus test results for the Hokies. Miami plays at Virginia Tech Nov. 14.
“One guy says ‘I’m tired, man. I’m going to this party down the street..’’ WQAM host Joe Rose told Diaz. “It can literally shut down your game with one guy, if you don’t have great leadership saying, ‘No, no. Get your ass back here.’’’
Diaz: “We’ve been saying this all year. Isn’t that exactly the way the game of football works? You have a lot of guys putting in a lot of effort . It can really be one guy’s mistake or one guy’s lack of focus over the course of the game that can cost the entire team.
“Everybody’s got to stay connected on the field and this year off the field.”
Each week during the season, Atlantic Coast Conference teams will get tested for the coronavirus at least three times — 72 hours before kickoff, the day before kickoff and the day after kickoff. UM does not report its results, but all the starters and everyone expected to be integral players and in uniform for the opener against UAB was dressed for the game.
More from Diaz’s WQAM segment Monday:
‘Kick someone’s a--’
▪ The Canes, who ran for 366 yards (starter Cam’Ron Davis had 134 of those and two touchdowns) in their 31-14 victory over Alabama-Birmingahm, purposely kept it simple by pounding the ball.
“We made our intentions pretty clear,’’ Diaz said. “We wanted to be simple. We wanted to get after this team. We played two Conference USA teams [FIU and Louisiana Tech] a year ago and [of] four of the halves we got shut out in three. So we were just going to impose our will, not turn this into calculus and just get after somebody and see what it feels like to kick someone’s ass… And i thought for our offense that 300 yards offense at the end of three quarters was exactly what we needed.’’
Fourth-and-1 risk
▪ Rose asked Diaz about going for it at fourth-and-1 from the UM 34-yard line late in the first quarter. Harris scored on a 66-yard run on that fourth down.
“1. I did feel like we needed a little spark early in the game, a little something to get us going,’’ Diaz said. “And the second thing is we need a yard and when your quarterback is a run threat it just changes. It’s a little bit different in terms of how the defense has to play you in keeping things honest. And really if you watch the way the play unfolded, they’ve got to honor [quarterback] D’Eriq [King] keeping the ball, and then just that little slight hesitation and somebody gets out of the gap and then they were sort of in a sell-the-farm defense.”
▪ Diaz praised his offensive line, specifically the tackle play of Houston transfer Jarrid Williams, the right tackle who formerly played with fellow transfer King; and left tackle John Campbell.
“Very encouraging,’’ Diaz said. “UAB played an odd front and completely changed coverages for our game — nothing they had done in the opener or in anything in the breakdowns of watching their entire season a year ago. So our offensive staff had to do a great job of adjusting... So for an offensive line to go [from] basically watching four-man fronts— In practice we spent a day working on the potential for them to hop into an odd front, and then for them to hop into an odd front and [for us to] handle it without missed assignments and confusion was a really good job by those guys and by [offensive line coach] Garin Justice.”
Mark Pope responds
▪ Diaz indicated that junior receiver Mark Pope’s lost fumble on his first punt return responded admirably and “shook that off and did a great job of just playing the next play and was dynamic in his returns from that point on. Our coverage units were amazing.’’
Pope returned three punts for 20 yards, including the fumble; and two kickoffs for 41 yards.
Pass-rush notes
▪ UM had only one sack Saturday, that one by graduate transfer defensive end Quincy Roche. But the Canes held UAB to 80 yards rushing and 205 yards passing.
“UAB was not going to drop back and throw the football run,’’ Diaz explained. “They were going to run it [and] there was going to be play-action, quick passes in the flats. There were a couple times we saw if we just used our technique a little bit better in some of our coverages, [if] the quarterback [held] the ball for maybe a half second longer he was about to get hit in the back.
“It’s about being relentless, its about staying after it. The sacks generally tend to come as that happens.”
