I’ve gone back and forth on the defense. Never been a “fire tuiaki” guy but some days I want to completely change the defense and some days I don’t. Here’s what I’ve come down to.

-The defense can be very successful against a good but not great QB, a QB who forces things. USF and U of A moved the ball on us because they had QBs who didn’t trust their arms and were totally fine throwing dump offs. But teams like USU, ASU, Utah, and WSU struggled more against the defense because they had decent QBs who thought they were great QBs and made bad decisions because of it.

-We NEED to improve run defense. Losing Pili hurts so much more than probably anybody can realize. He knew where to be every. Single. Time. Other guys have filled in well, but it’s just not the same. If we can’t stop the run, the whole premise of our defense (ie waiting for the QB to make a mistake) is obsolete.

-Red zone defense cannot be this bad. This type of defense should not “break” so easily down at the end of the field. If red zone defense is this bad, our personnel is not right for the scheme. We need to fix this.

-If we are playing a team with an actually truly talented and smart QB, and a good offensive line, the drop 8 will not work. If we can’t stop the run, the drop 8 won’t work. Otherwise, assuming our guys are in the right positions, the drop 8 should and does absolutely work.