Certainly the coaches have more time in the saddle, and may have learned from both experience and outside influences. Play calling on both sides of the ball is still strange at times, but overall seems to be good. It's always easy to take shots at individual calls. On defense, I'm still not a fan of dropping 8 so much, but it clearly can be effective in some situations. On offense, we have a good balance between run and pass and can adjust to the defense.

Discipline appears to be much improved. Maybe Kalani and Co. have found a way to instill better discipline while still being "players" coaches. Players in both games (especially Navy) were assignment sound, but it's more than just that. Fewer penalties, less hero ball, and better team blocking, tackling, and effort all have added their part. Dedication to effort both on and off the field looks to be strong. In this era of Covid, players could have slacked off and not worked as hard as they have. That doesn't seem to be a problem for BYU this year.

Additionally, Kalani, Grimey, and Tuiaki (among others) have more of the people they've recruited taking over most positions. The lines, especially, seem to have benefitted now that recent recruits are more experienced and solid. Depth seems to have improved across the board, though some of that is because of so many injuries in the past couple of years. Speed is still not top level but may be sufficient for the style we play.

We may still find that the team isn't ready for some games and we have some inexplicable losses, of course. We certainly have a lot of teams on the schedule that we should beat.

I'm hoping that Kalani has things figured out and that these first two games are the beginning of a solid program from him and the rest of the coaches. I like Kalani a lot and would love to see him succeed. In many ways, his personality, demeanor, and heart are just what the program needs. At the end of last year, I was saddened by the thought that we'd made a mistake in extending his contract, but maybe he can still be great.

Let it be so.