Texas Longhorns

AUSTIN, Texas -- Last week Manny Diaz was putting band-aids on paper cuts.

This week the Texas defensive coordinator is trying to avoid a blow from the guillotine.

"They are constantly going to be on the hunt for the big play, whether through deception, through double moves by the wideouts, double pass, a trick, something," Diaz said of the Ole Miss offense.

That is a dramatic change from what New Mexico and its option attack did to Texas.

"They want to try and create death by paper cuts," Diaz said. "They just paper-cut you and paper-cut you and you get so annoyed and so frustrated and then all of thee sudden they strike with the big play."

While it never got to that point, Texas gave up 112 yards in the first three series. Included in that were two third-down conversions of nine or more yards. Consider this a lesson learned without a lot of blood loss because while New Mexico may have started fast, Texas never started falling apart.

"Biggest credit to our guys, and it is not always fun to watch, but you have to stay poised against those teams," Diaz said.

That poise should once again be an attribute as Texas faces a fast-paced, no-huddle Ole Miss offense. The Rebels, while not exactly playing the best competition, have three touchdown passes for more than 50 yards and rank 10th nationally in overall offense with 551 yards per game.

"The whole thing still comes down to poise and discipline," Diaz said. "Now with this offense if they break a run or they throw a pass and they are coming at you with fast tempo, you have to be locked in for the next play.

"You have to be disciplined against every offense. That is just sort of the nature of great defenses. The challenges are different week in and week out, but the basic themes are always the same."

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