they were on the field, most of the time short field, more than most D's in the country. Sure, QB pressure wasn't as expected, and the secondary struggled at times but the D played great for having the worst offense in BYU history on the other side of the ball constantly screwing them over.
THere were only 2 games where the D didn't play well enough for the team to win. Every other game they played good/great, with an even minimally better offense would have won the games.