and absolutely terrible in 2023. If one side of the ball is suffering it is going to make it harder for the other side of the ball to be successful. So, it will make stats worse. (We won 8 games in 2022 and only 5 in 2023, our success on offense was the only reason we won in 2022).

Second, we had Tuiaki's guys both seasons, but Tuiaki had recruited the guys he thought would work for him, and Hill implemented a different system with Tuiaki's personnel.

Third, and most importantly, we went from an independent schedule to our first year in the big 12. Our SOS was significantly harder, so, stats that don't take SOS into consideration are going to be misleading.

Fourth, Tuiaki's defense was designed to make the defense look better statistically at the expense of the offense. Allowing long slow drives to minimize total yards lost and total points given up. So, any stats that don't take per play into consideration are going to be slightly less helpful.

Recruiting is improving on that side of the ball and scheme is much more appealing. So, based on that alone, I am happy with the improvement on the defensive side of the ball.

Despite all of these reasons that the stats may unfairly look worse in 2023, here are the stats you mentioned in your post as being important to you (I had to use https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/opponent-third-down-conversion-pct?date=2024-01-09 website because it provided the info I needed for both years. Not sure how to look up the stats you mentioned from the NCAA's website for 2022.)

Opponent 3rd down conversions success - 44.59% (2023) vs 48.15% (2022) - 2023 IS BETTER

Opponents yards per play (total defense per play) - 5.9 vs 5.8 - EFFECTIVELY EQUAL

Opponents 4th down conversions success - 36.36% vs 61.54% - 2023 IS WAY BETTER

Opponents passing yards completion percentage - 62.13% vs 69.47% - 2023 IS BETTER

Opponents passing yards per attempt - 7 vs 7.6 - 2023 SLIGHTLY BETTER

Opponents red zone scoring per attempt - 81.82% vs 87.72% - 2023 IS BETTER

Opponent yards per rushing attempt - 5 vs 4.6 - 2023 SLIGHTLY WORSE

team tackles for loss (couldn't find this stat)

Opponent sacks percentage - 2.85% vs 4.03% - 2023 IS WORSE

takeaways per game - 1.6 vs .9 - 2023 IS BETTER

points per drive - 2.29 vs 2.89 - 2023 IS BETTER

So while they were not better in every category, they were better in nearly every category. And with how much worse our offense was and with the steep incline in SOS, I think these stats are a significant improvement over the pervious year's defense. Was it where we want it to be? No, but you can't expect Hill to right the ship in one year (especially when it is the first year in a P4 conference).