The Maroon and White article about our offense

[Todd4State]

under Dan and how prolific it was got me thinking about something. What could we do on offense if we don't bend and break and have a shorter field to score? I really think Manny is going to make a big difference in that department this year.

[BossDawg]

under Dan and how prolific it was got me thinking about something. What could we do on offense if we don't bend and break and have a shorter field to score? I really think Manny is going to make a big difference in that department this year.

I'm trying to think, but did we have a huge problem with giving up big plays during Manny's first year? I just know we got burned A LOT, especially on the deep ball, with Wilson and Collins. If we could cut that out that should most definitely give us a shorter field.

[Jack Lambert]

Many's defense will give up big plays but it is off set by more plays for lost. He gambles and it pays off more than not.

[rabbitthedawg]

I'm trying to think, but did we have a huge problem with giving up big plays during Manny's first year? I just know we got burned A LOT, especially on the deep ball, with Wilson and Collins. If we could cut that out that should most definitely give us a shorter field.

You have to consider that when Manny was here before, he did not have the talent he has now.

[spudd21]

You have to consider that when Manny was here before, he did not have the talent he has now.

Manny had the talent, Manny didn't have the depth.

[missouridawg]

Manny had the talent, Manny didn't have the depth.

Yep. KJ Wright. Chris White, John Banks. Fletcher Cox. Josh Boyd. Nickoe Whitley. Pernell McPhee. Cam Lawrence. Charles Mitchell. The first team D was very, very talented.

Second team? Not so much.

[maroonmania]

Manny had the talent, Manny didn't have the depth.

Yep, the frontline talent on that 2010 defense was really good.

[maroonmania]

Many's defense will give up big plays but it is off set by more plays for lost. He gambles and it pays off more than not.

I'm sure he'll give up some big plays but it won't be any worse than last year and on the flip side I expect us to force way more negative plays under Manny than we did under Collins. I was thinking LT was at the top or near the top in forced turnovers last year?

[Prediction? Pain.]

I'm trying to think, but did we have a huge problem with giving up big plays during Manny's first year? I just know we got burned A LOT, especially on the deep ball, with Wilson and Collins. If we could cut that out that should most definitely give us a shorter field.

Sort of. In 2010, State was tied for last in the SEC at giving up plays of 10+ yards in conference games:

http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/i3/5582cc0a1d81d0-86096905 (http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/5582cc0a1d81d0-86096905)

But at the same time, we were near the top of the conference at limiting plays of 20+, 30+, and 40+ yards:

http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/i3/5582ccaf8d5a78-89709516 (http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/5582ccaf8d5a78-89709516)

http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/i3/5582cd0b883f15-02348328 (http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/5582cd0b883f15-02348328)

http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/i3/5582cd83df9903-18710913 (http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/5582cd83df9903-18710913)

Under Collins last year, we were in the bottom half of the conference in all four of those categories. (Though to be fair to Collins, in his first year as DC in 2013, we were in the top 5 of the SEC at limiting plays of 10+ and 20+ yards.)

There probably some advanced statistic that provides more insight on this. I'll try to give that a look later.

[Joe Schmedlap]

Manny had lots of talent in Austin. Didn't help much. That program was a train wreck though.

[thf24]

Manny had lots of talent in Austin. Didn't help much. That program was a train wreck though.

Did he, though? I don't think a single player from his time there is in the NFL right now. More likely that he seemed to have a lot of talent on paper due to inflated Texas recruiting evaluations and their tendency to declare anything Mack Brown touched as gold, which, in hindsight, probably wasn't a wise strategy those last few years.

[DancingRabbit]

Manny had lots of talent in Austin. Didn't help much. That program was a train wreck though.

The talent issue may be debatable. The 2014 NFL draft that followed Manny's Sept. 2013 firing was the first NFL draft since 1937 that included no Texas Longhorns.

Lots of players with 4 or 5 stars but probably a lot of "star inflation" involved.

[maroonmania]

Manny had lots of talent in Austin. Didn't help much. That program was a train wreck though.

He has been very successful at all 3 stops he's had outside of TX. Even his defenses at TX were good initially but no doubt the better part of the last 2 years they were awful. I do think that program had already rotted from within though so I'm not sure what could have been done in that situation. I do know in comparing apples to apples the LT defense with Manny in 2014 was tremendously improved over their 2013 version without him.

[Prediction? Pain.]

He has been very successful at all 3 stops he's had outside of TX. Even his defenses at TX were good initially but no doubt the better part of the last 2 years they were awful. I do think that program had already rotted from within though so I'm not sure what could have been done in that situation. I do know in comparing apples to apples the LT defense with Manny in 2014 was tremendously improved over their 2013 version without him.

Exactly. I've actually been working on a FWTCT article about Diaz recently and have been researching his performance as DC at all his stops. Aside from his last "year" at Texas (which consisted of all of two games), his performance at Texas wasn't as horrendous as everyone makes it out to be. In fact, his first year there was amazing. His defense improved in just about every statistical category from the previous year, when universally adored defensive genius Will Muschamp was the DC. Just look at the S&P+ ratings: Muschamp's last unit was 31st in the country; the following year, Diaz took Texas' defense up to 9th. Diaz' second year, which ESPN decried as the worst (http://espn.go.com/colleges/texas/football/story/_/id/8736746/reviewing-2012-texas-longhorns-defense) in Texas history? S&P+ rating of 32nd, essentially the same as in Muschamp's last year, and still in the top half of the Big 12 in terms of S&P+ rankings.