The hottest assistant coach in the country?
Week in, week out everyone wants to talk about the "hot assistants". People ask us all the time about Kirby Smart, Chad Morris, Todd Monken, Pat Narduzzi, etc...
Well, this weekend, one guy has the opportunity to make himself the "hottest assistant in the country".
Imagine if the Texas defense shuts out West Virginia this weekend...
If that were to happen, the media coverage would be as if Manny Diaz somehow turned into Tim Tebow.
So, could it happen? Well, we'll see Saturday night; but so far we haven't found anyone willing to place hard dollars on or near a Texas shutout.
Here's a look inside some of the numbers...
In West Virginia's previous four games (against Marshall, James Madison, Maryland and Baylor), the Mountaineers offense has put up some monster numbers, but has yet to face a quality defense outside of Maryland (#8 in total defense).
Maryland's defensive ranking may be a bit a skewed. The Terrapins schedule has included William & Mary, Temple, Connecticut and the Mountaineers, so outside of West Virgina, none of the teams that they've faced rank higher than 106th in total offense in the FBS. The Mountaineers previous FBS opponents, Marshall (115th) and Baylor (120th), each rank toward the bottom of the barrel nationally in total defense. By the way, we heard that, on the flight home from Morgantown, things got a little testy within Art Briles' staff; but that's not what we're talking about here today.
But back to Manny Diaz and the Texas defense. The team is coming off back to back wins at Ole Miss and Oklahoma State and ranks #15 in total defense (261 ypg allowed), and #18 in pass defense (178 ypg). The Longhorn defense will present a challenge to a West Virginia squad that is putting up nearly 600 yards of total offense a week (599 ypg - 3rd nationally) passing for 442 ypg (1st nationally) and scoring 53 points per game (3rd nationally).
West Virginia (4-0, 1-0) hits the road for the first real time this season (they played James Madison in DC) against the Longhorns (4-0, 1-0). The two teams will square off at 7pm ET on FOX Saturday night. Not sure we'll see anything near a shutout; but the whole country is looking forward to a good football game.
