Last year at Louisiana Tech, Manny Diaz led a resurgence on the defensive side of the ball in Ruston. The Bulldogs not only led the country in turnovers gained, but they also ranked in the top five nationally in both fumbles gained and interceptions gained.
There aren't very many programs that can say that. That shows a concerted effort on turnovers.
Now, back at Mississippi State where he made a splash in 2010 before leaving for the same position at Texas, Diaz explained how he's bringing that turnover hungry approach back to Starkville while out on the Road Dawg tour in Tupelo.
The way he sees it, it starts with one very important thing: you absolutely have to stop the run.
"Especially this year, to win in our league, you're going to have to turn the ball over and it's always going to start with stopping the run. If you stop the run, then they've got to throw to beat you, and when they throw to win, the ball is in harm's way.
"Nobody turns the ball over more than the quarterback. There's a bunch of things that you can do to get after the quarterback to get him to make mistakes, but if you can't stop the run, then you have no chance of doing that."
"So our run defense will be the first thing that we pride ourselves on, and we feel like anything from that point on, that's when the turnovers start to come."