While it is true you have to matchup personnel to a point, the best defenses dictate what the offense has to do. They do this by applying pressure, attacking receivers at the line of scrimmage, slanting the d line and running stunts so the offense can't know exactly where the defenders will be....etc.
Tuiaki's defense did this against Utah St. They took away the run and made Utah St one dimensional with their game plan. Now I don't like the soft zone that we played, but I appreciate what they did to take away the run.