Manny Diaz Says Awesome Things, Oklahoma State Edition

Even though Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz took a week off from saying awesome things heading into the game against Ole Miss, he was back in action on Monday, well-armed for Big 12 action.

Without further ado, then, onward...

Coach Diaz, on the state of the Texas defense...

"We're five days away from going to Stillwater. We're 3-0. That's all we can be. We asked the NCAA if we could be 4-0 because we played well in some of the games we played, and they said no."

Just further evidence that the NCAA is an ineffective governing body if they can't award another victory to a really, really important program like Texas. We're Texas, the Joneses, all that, we should be able to tack on victories when we want.

Or even championships, though apparently it doesn't take NCAA approval to do that.

Coach Diaz, on the mix at linebacker...

"Well, it's really more just sort of there's kind of a big vat of guys and we're sort of stirring them around, trying to figure out who bubbles to the top."

Specifically, the question seems to have been in regard to freshman middle linebacker/cult hero Dalton Santos, who is quickly becoming the DJ Monroe of the defensive side of the ball in terms of drawing consistent questions from the beat writers.

There's no question the Longhorns could use someone to bubble to the top here with Jordan Hicks looking more and more likely to miss the game. Demarco Cobbs? Kendall Thompson? Steve Edmond? Tevin Jackson? Someone bubble up! Turn that heat up!

Okay, so much yelling. At least it wasn't in all caps. That would have been even more draining.

Coach Diaz, on the OSU route concepts...

"It's like watching water run down a window. Wherever you are, the ball goes opposite."

Yeah, that could be a problem. I don't even know how to conceive of a solution to that. Perhaps there are some chemicals that could be applied to the glass. Having already spent 20 seconds wondering about that, it's probably better to just move on.

Coach Diaz, on magic playmaking dust...

Last week the play fairy just sprinkled dust on Steve.

Better make sure that fairy makes the trip to Stillwater in a game that has a high likelihood of ending like many such games -- with the team that wins the turnover margin finishing ahead on the scoreboard as well.

Who does the play fairy favor this week? Little worried she might be kinda fickle.

Coach Diaz, on the Ole Miss skill position talent...

It's not like we were tackling crash test dummies.

True enough -- missing tackles that lead to massive chunks of yards after that first opportunity against a crash test dummy would be pretty terrible. Even multiple crash test dummies. Even SEC crash test dummies.

Thanks for the perspective, coach.

And that's it for the week, folks. Impressive effort, even for Diaz, who has set himself a significant standard since he's been at Texas.

See ya back here next week for more, hopefully. Laughing Kid will be here, too, as long as Diaz makes the football funny.