I think the defense is great, that’s not an issue.
In the second half the Bison defense forced four consecutive turnovers inside the WIU side of the field. One on downs, three INTs, and only got 10 points, the only TD came on the fourth TO. That should not be considered acceptable offense when the D plays so well, and it comes down to the philosophy of the HC. He always takes the foot off the peddle and it could cost him this year. If they had pushed scoring on those first three turnovers and have gotten more than three points Stick could have gone to the bench and valuable playing time could have been given to a backup QB. That reduces the risk of Stick getting hurt rather than benching him with less than two minutes left in the game. Lots of backups get quality playing time, but not the QB. One could make an argument that this position is the weakest link to another championship.