In the attached thread I stated we need to scheme better. I added that the other option is to play mistake free football. Vs. Tennessee and USC we had zero turnovers. We barely one both games. Against Utah and Washington we had 3 in each game along with crushing penalties and lost both convincingly.

The last option is to recruit better. The difficulties with this are well documented. Our high admission standards, the Honor Code, our small recruiting pool, our small head coaching pool, our demographics, and competing with P-5 Utah in state. In the past few years we have lost huge talent that would have make a big difference: Tanner McKee, Brandon Kaho, Mika Tafua, Tevita Fotu, losing Francis Bernard, Jaren Kump, etc. I know I am leaving many more off the list, but you get the picture. We are not landing the top talent at our disposal, guys who commit to us at one point and have interest in our program.

Playing mistake free ball week in and week out can work for 4-5 games a year if you are lucky. Look at Wisconsin last year and the bowl game with Zach Wilson.

I feel the only way we will land the top LDS talent year in and year out is to become P-5, and win. The powers that be do not want us to be P-5. Heck, Utah definitely does not want us to be their equal in recruiting in-state.

So, we are left to attempt to coach up inferior “star” talent with better coaching and/or scheme. Landing a coach like Urban Meyer or Chris Peterson if they were LDS would do it. But LaVell comes once a lifetime if your lucky. We had a master at Defensive scheme in Bronco and did not know what we had. Save me the “He left on his own, get over it.” No. He left when he did because we, as a whole, felt, we could do better. We did not “show him the LOVE and the MONEY” as Jerry McGuire famously screamed.

So far I do not think Sitake is that elite coach. But my hope is he strikes good and hires an elite O-coordinator and D-coordinator. If I were him i would start on Defense as Grimes has shown improvement this year.

Our recruiting won’t change. Got to coach them up, find a needle in a haystack elite LDS coaching mind, and all the while try to get inclusion into a P-5.