Duke head coach Manny Diaz knows there will be plenty of defense vs. Ole Miss in Gator Bowl: ‘We’re No. 1 and No. 2 in the country in TFLs’
OXFORD, Miss. — As the old saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Last year at this time Ole Miss was preparing to face Penn State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl — and Manny Diaz, the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions at the time, was getting ready to try and figure out how to stop Jaxson Dart and a potent Ole Miss offense.
But then, Diaz was hired as the head football coach for a Duke team that had just seen its head coach, Mike Elko, depart for A&M.
So now, a year later, Diaz once again finds himself preparing to stop Jaxson Dart and Lane Kiffin’s offense, as well as account for a tough Rebels defense.
“It’s ironic. When I was at Penn State last year, we were going to play Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, but then I got a call that ruined all that,” Diaz said jokingly in a media call Monday.
Diaz talked about getting to play in the Gator Bowl and what it means to him.
“It’s a great opponent and a great opportunity for our program. It’s a just reward for the season that we had. When you win a bunch of games, you’re going to get to play a team that’s also won a bunch of games. It’s a great matchup that we’ll be excited for.”
Manny Diaz on playing the Rebels in the Gator Bowl
Defensive leaders
“The matchup that jumps off the board and should be great on a poster is: ‘Come for the great weather and the great setting. Stay for the tackles for loss,’” Diaz noted.
“I certainly have a lot of respect for Lane Kiffin and what he does, but the matchup that jumps off the board — and I don’t know if it’ll look good on a poster — tackles for loss. We’re one and two in the country in TFLs and what (Ole Miss has) done from a number of standpoints, we kind of track it historically through this scheme, they’ve done a thing this year that has not been done in recent times. A lot of respect for what they do in all three phases.”
Manny Diaz on the Ole Miss and Duke defenses
If you look at the stats for tackles for loss, you see Ole Miss at No. 1 in the nation in the category with 116 total tackles for loss, a 9.7 TFL-per-game average. The Rebels’ defense accounts for a total of 506 yards in losses.
Duke, on the other hand, is right there with Ole Miss, sitting at No. 2 with 110 tackles for loss, a 9.2 TFL-per-game average. They’ve racked up 399 yards in total losses.
In terms of team sacks, the Ole Miss defense leads the nation in that category, as well, sitting at No. 1 with 52 total sacks, a 4.22 sacks-per-game average.
Duke has notched 40 sacks this season and is No. 3 in the country with an average of 3.33 sacks per game.
Diaz has much respect for Pete Golding’s Ole Miss defensive unit.
“They’ve got some outstanding personnel up front and they have an aggressive style by playing fast and they’re very well-coached. When you do that, you’re usually going to have great disruptive results.”
Manny Diaz
While we do not yet know if any of the Ole Miss players who are eligible for the NFL Draft will opt out of the bowl game, we can say there are six Rebels who have tallied double-digit tackles for loss this season. Leading the team with 14 apiece are Walter Nolen and Suntarine Perkins. At 13.5 tackles for loss apiece are JJ Pegues and Princely Umanmielen. Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul Jr has notched 11 tackles for loss and Jared Ivey has recorded 10.
Duke’s sophomore defensive end Wesley Williams has the most tackles for loss for the Blue Devils with 13.5, while linebacker Alex Howard has tallied 13.
Game Info:
The Gator Bowl is set for Thursday, January 2, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. at EverBank Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
