CHEEZ-IT BOWL: OKLAHOMA STATE VS MIAMI

December 29, 2020

Manny Diaz

Camping World Stadium

Miami Hurricanes

Q. Any information you can provide on D'Eriq and how he's doing? But the team and N'Kosi coming in in really a tough situation where you guys were reeling and not very good that first quarter.

MANNY DIAZ: Yeah, in terms of D'Eriq, we'll evaluate him tomorrow and know more. That's really all we can say at this point. That's really all we know at this point.

In terms of the team, No. 1, first of all I want to say congratulations to Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State. That was probably an outstanding ballgame, highly competitive. At no point did I think we would lose that game, and I don't think our team did, either, until it hit triple-zeros. The way we battled, the way we fought, the way we played for each other was inspiring.

However, we just made too many mistakes to win a football game. There were some red zone issues that got us. You know a two-point conversion that was and then it wasn't. In a game when you lose by three, a touchdown that was and then wasn't, some of those things that took points off the scoreboard, and we ended up not being good enough to overcome, but we continued to fight and the team rallied behind N'Kosi. Didn't flinch.

And proud for N'Kosi the way he went in there and played hard. And so many guys that played well, but ultimately, like I said, too many mistakes to boat a good Oklahoma State team.

Q. You said you already knew player decisions for next year. Do you think now D'Eriq's injury could change some decisions based on feedback you get tomorrow?

MANNY DIAZ: I wouldn't be able to comment on the intentions of our players. So I really don't have an answer for you on that.

Q. Going back to N'Kosi, what impressed you most about what he did tonight and just generally for him, feels like there were times he could have transferred. What were your conversations like with him over the last year, and I know obviously he didn't get the win, but to get a chance like this and to perform well.

MANNY DIAZ: When D'Eriq came on campus, N'Kosi could have gone one or two ways. I tell you, his last 12 months on our campus and who he has been in our program has been his best 12 months.

And it's tough. It's tough to be the backup and you're waiting for your shot, and you don't ever know, and so the fact that he got it on a stage like this in a Bowl game and what he looked like to me is he looked like a guy that's played a lot of ball. He's been in a lot of big situations, and I think the team had confidence in him that we could move the football with him in there and that's exactly what happened.

Q. Oklahoma State's first three drives, they went pass heavy, bang, bang, bang, down the field, easy touchdowns. After that, their passing game and entire offense came back to earth. What happened early and what did you guys do to stop that?

MANNY DIAZ: Well, there were obviously some adjustments that were being made. You know, like you mentioned, I think we were a little caught off guard on how pass-heavy compared to what their normal MO had been. But it just didn't look like -- in the first quarter, it's not that it didn't look like it but we didn't play defensively and whether it was a lack of confidence from the game previous, which should not be; shouldn't be an excuse, but for whatever reason, just took us awhile to settle down and finally got a stop. Then we relaxed and started playing.

We had a huge sudden change stop right before halftime. But it felt like the key point in the game was when we fumbled the punt. It was a very close game and we lost the turnovers and that was the deal. We had a situation in the third quarter, where we had a pick that wasn't, and you know, then we had some other issues with penalties and then they got the long drive there. I think they were able to capture momentum back in the third quarter, which is important.

Q. Even though D'Eriq was hurt, he came out and was on the sideline supporting his teammates. What does that say about him as a person to keep the guys motivated when you're trying to rally back?

MANNY DIAZ: He cares so much for his teammates and our football team, and that's who he is every day in our facility and in the locker room. He loves these guys he plays with, and I know it hurt him to not be out there with him, but he was going to do anything could he to help encourage the ones that were.

Q. I wanted to talk more about D'Eriq if you don't mind, just your emotions, seeing him go down. Obviously it's been an exciting and heartbreaking week for him, just the roller coaster of emotions and the ability for you guys to then play a football game afterwards is remarkable.

MANNY DIAZ: Yeah, it's harsh. In a year we've had so much adversity, and for a guy that does everything right and like I said, hopefully we'll get good news tomorrow, but that's just, that, is a difficult pill to swallow for, like you mentioned, for the entire football team.

The fact that everybody rallied says a lot about them and says a lot about our football team.

Q. What's it like knowing next year if anything happens you have a very good backup?

MANNY DIAZ: Yeah, like I said, we love our quarterback room. And not just N'Kosi but Tyler Van Dyke and Peyton Matocha and the addition of Jake Garcia. And we felt like that was one of the big things that we had to get right here at UM is get our QB room right, and not just in terms of on the field performance but off the field maturity. Those guys all have done a good job and we feel like that's where the future of that position is here at Miami.

Q. You had said earlier this week that the opportunity to win a Bowl game like this could spring forward and give you some momentum going into next year. Having the way this one finished, how does it impact how you guys want to take that next step forward?

MANNY DIAZ: Well, it shows us in a nutshell what we have, which is we have guys that will play and give everything for one another. It also shows some places where we're lacking, really in, all three phases. Offensively, we certainly -- we obviously had some dropped passes and a chance to make some big, explosive plays, against their defense. Special teams, we had a very costly turnover. Had a few penalties.

And then defensively, just too inconsistent, but dominant at times, which was encouraging to see. But then allowed too many points for us to win a football game.

We don't run from this, and I told the football team, look where we were 12 months ago. What you did is you go get to work. You fix what you have to fix and that sets the tone for the off-season program. And we talk about off-season, we basically told our team they have 24 hours to feel about this, and even though you won't be back on campus until end of January, it's time to get to work.

So I think that's an instant refocus for us. I'm proud of the players for improving our football program from where it was a year ago. I think we were at another level than where we were and there's another level where we need to climb to next year and that will be the focus of the off-season program.

Q. You obviously gave up the 21 points quickly on defense but made the adjustments to slow them down. What specifically was working for you that was able to get you back in the game on defense?

MANNY DIAZ: Well, as was mentioned earlier, they really came out throwing the football. They really weren't running it all that much, which we felt was encouraging because we knew they wanted to run the football and that sooner or later they would get to that.

I thought we did a really nice job with our run defense, especially compared to our last timeout. And we simply started winning the one-on-one matchups down the field and played our covers a little better, and I think that's what gave us a chance there.

There was a crucial turnover in the third quarter that put them on the short field and then we had -- again, we had some, you know, some calls go against us, let's just say, in our secondary where I thought we were just competing our asses off and out-competing them that were called as penalties.

We had a crucial interception, had all the momentum taken away, and I think that was probably one of the most frustrating parts. But our guys didn't flinch. They kept playing. But ultimately ended up being too much to overcome.

Q. Your evaluation of the defensive ends in this game who had to play a bigger role, and can you detail some of your reasoning on some of the defensive line changes.

MANNY DIAZ: Yeah, Brian was just simply -- a discipline deal, where we felt like in December, just he warranted a start by doing the right things in our program, and then the defensive ends, you know, I mean, look, obviously not having 2 and 15, that was a big miss. The first touchdown they scored of the game, they got a fourth down and the quarterback was running around and able to buy time and throw it. Hey, that's where we are.

I thought those guys gave us what they had and some of those guys flashed and -- made some flash plays and showed why we are excited about those guys future. Now the future gets a little sped up with those guys having to step up their role, so I'm proud of their effort.