Lol; no, my guy.
Some have said Mario “ruined” Herbert when he became coach. That’s factually incorrect. He did not ruin Herbert, & in fact the offense improved under Mario from Herbert’s Sophomore Yr to his Jr Year. The fact is, Herbert was toting the rock more his Jr Year than his Sophomore Yr.
The second part was Herbert looked pedestrian under Mario. Again, Herbert’s #’s steadily rose under Mario & the two best seasons in Herbert’s career came under Mario. He won two bowl games, went 21-6 under Mario vs. 8-8 under the previous staff.
I’m stating that Mario could’ve show cased Herbert even further in 2019, but while Herbert was show cased in 2018, the team went 9-4. When the offense became more balanced, they went 12-2, so what’s the problem? Was Herbert still a top 10 pick? Yes. Did Herbert win Rose Bowl MVP? Yes. Did Herbert win Sr Bowl MVP? Yes. Was Herbert going to be drafted over Joe Burrow after the season he had? **** No. The only QB debate in question was Tua or Herbert, & that wouldn’t have been a debate had Tua not injured his hip.
Also, did it ever occur to anyone that the reason we had a good passing offense the past two seasons b/c our OC had zero balance? We ranked 97th & 67th the past two yrs in rushing.
So while TVD had some nice #’s, that led to a 6-3 record, & only one of said games came against a formidable opponent with a good pass defense which was NCST. Pitt’s pass defense was worst than ours, & we ranked 102nd in the nation. Every pass defense that TVD lit up to end the season, sans NCSt, was 63rd or below.
Again, u can throw out stats all day long, but one team went 10-3 playing in their conference championship game, missing hella playmakers, while the other team was fully healthy, tossing the rock all over the place going 7-5 (barely).
UVA- 2 pt loss and happened to be TVDs first start against a P5. Lashlee didn't trust TVD yet and ran the ball 40 times and called 29 pass plays. Mediocre performance by TVD.
UNC - TVD laid an egg. 3 pt loss on the road.
Now here's the part where I get a chuckle out of the dummies who keep saying, "The problem is we have a roster of players with a loser mentality and the reason Cristobal is sucking as coach is that he doesn't have players with heart."
UM is 2-4. We've got the backup QB who is struggling, the popular starter is done for the season, UM is now 0-2 in conference play. Clearly this" team of losers" is going to fold and be lucky to win 4 games. Surprise! UM goes on to win the next 6 of 7. At NC St, UM only rushes for 95 yards but TVD throws for 325 and 4 TDs. Nearly a 50/50 split in run pass but Lashlee finally sees how effective TVD is passing. So what happens against Pitt? 23 rush attempts, 56 pass attempts. We beat a very good Pitt team on the road.
Then GT at home. First half is an absolute disaster. 3 fumbles including a fumble return for an INT. Missed FGs. All 6 people in the stands are booing. Of course, this group of losers will quit on Diaz. Nope, TVD rallies the team and we end up winning again.
FSU is interesting. UM is down 20-7 at Halftime. First half went about as badly as possible for TVD. Two ints, sack fumble TD. Again, this group of players that Cristo-Bros are calling soft and without a desire to win, rally behind TVD and UM takes the lead in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately the D gives up the lead and we go on to lose a heartbreaker. 23 rushing attempts to 47 pass attempts, not much of a balance but it gave UM an opportunity to fight back and take the lead after being deep in the hole. Virtually no chance that happens if Lashlee decides to try and go 50/50 run pass balance.
Now rumors about Diaz being fired are swirling with everyone saying he's 100% a goner. Of course, NOW is when the team is going to rollover. Diaz is a lame duck, just had gut wrenching loss to FSU.
We go on the road to play VT. UM wins by 12. 33 pass attempts, 26 run attempts. More passing than running, TVD puts up 357 yards and 3 TDs.
Last game of the season. Now this group of guys who Cristo-Bros say have no desire to win, play Duke on the road . Seasons basically over. Nothing really to play for but a bad bowl. UM obliterates them. 52 pass attempts, 36 run attempts. TVD throws for almost 400 yards and 3 TDs.
Even in the losses UM was in a position to win because we could score points through the air when needed. Diaz somehow squeezed every ounce of effort and production out of the offense. They never quit on him even when everyone knew he was getting fired. Yet four games into 2022, the team quit on Mario Cristobal. So you tell me, was Manny Diaz just a better leader and motivator than Mario Cristobal?