I'm not making excuses for anything. Kalani wouldn't--and doesn't--either. But no one is great at something he's never done before. If Kalani makes mistakes, okay, that's what you'd have to expect. I'm pretty sure most of the things we take for mistakes are actually perfectly rational decisions given the available information (which we have almost none of), but some are surely not. It's Kalani's first year at the helm. How could he be perfect?

Where we should expect the best performance is in those areas Kalani is NOT a first-timer, in recruiting and culture, and, on game day, defense. The offensive staff is all new. They're working on a totally new system, with players unaccustomed to it and obviously unsuited to it as well. That the offense is routinely bad is hardly a surprise, is it? Perhaps it could be fixed by switching quarterbacks. Kalani doesn't think so, clearly. I bet--I really do bet--that he has some reasons we would agree with if we knew what he knew. Maybe not. Impossible to say.

But if we're going to rip him when we think he gets something wrong, can we praise the things he gets right, especially when he gets them right in a way that seems likely to be permanent? Where should we see the fewest mistakes? Defense. Is this not where we see the best performance? When, in our living lifetime, has BYU ever made in-game defensive adjustments as well as we have the last few weeks? Boise torches us the first couple of possessions, then has two good drives the rest of the GAME. This with a depleted front seven, which is the backbone of Kalani's defensive philosophy. BYU intercepting this many passes is unheard of. We jump routes now as a philosophy, a thing I cannot ever remember. BYU stripping running backs on a consistent basis is refreshing. Everything you want a defense to do, given the limitations of the personnel, it is doing. That's also Kalani, and it's a defensive culture, not a fluke of a great player or two. It will persist, I suspect, as it has up north.

So for me, growing pains don't bother me much. I'd like to see evidence that Kalani is a good coach, that he's solid in those areas where he has the most experience, and the team plays hard for him. I see that. Don't you? I'm also not surprised that offensively things haven't come together, and that once in a while the team does inexplicably stupid things. No one should be surprised about that. Should we?