Fans like to judge on appearance and while his defense is not among the most efficient, in fact lower third in some metrics. It still does enough, through a bend but not break philosophy to help win games, which is all that matters. It is not sexy and there are still improvements needed, but ultimately sexy doesn't win games, playing well enough as a team in all three phases does.

I am going to talk as a coach now, to maybe put things into perspective, since I understand some of what he is trying to do.

1-His philosophy is based on scoring efficiency over long drives, meaning get favorable field position, in conjunction with special teams, which BYU has been very good at this year. You then make the offense go on long methodical drives and try and force a mistake at some point and keep favorable field position for your offense. This is something we actually charted at one of the school I have coached at over the years and had definitive goals in relation to these metrics that determined how aggressive we would be during game situations.

2-To run this type of scheme at full effectiveness you need smart, disciplined players, who are technique and assignment sound and a couple of playmakers. But you also need the best you have at these things and that is what has contributed to a lot of the erratic stretches. Think about this, at one point in the second half against USC, there were no defenders on the field that are regular starters and we even had a walk-ons out there in key situations. Tuiaki's scheme can be frustrating, but come on, our best playmakers are out, and he has done this with smoke and mirrors at times. Ultimately they made the plays needed to win and 5 years from now who will care that we barely beat some of these teams? They will care we went 10-2 and swept the PAC 12.

3-The biggest deficiency in the personnel department for this scheme has been the D line and there is a lot of talent coming in to address that. We are banged up at LBer and the group was young to begin with, but there is talent there and the experience some of the younger guys got will be invaluable. The secondary is as deep as we have ever had, and when we get the talent up front to generate more pressure with 3 and 4 man rushes we will be able to play righter coverage on the back end.

Ultimately, he has a job, because he has been able to adapt enough to run a defense that keeps us in games and makes enough plays to help win. He is not Bronco, but he is more than good enough and his players go hard for him. We will be fine when we finally get the talent needed at all three levels.