Everybody knows in football the defense’s job is to stop the other team’s offense.

Kevin Clune takes the simplicity a step further.

"Let them score less than we score," the new University of Hawaii defensive coordinator said when asked for the basic goal of his unit, after Tuesday’s practice, four days before the season opener against Washington. "That’s beyond obvious, yeah, but now days because we’re seeing 80 to 90 plays a game and 10 years ago it was only 60, it’s not the same."

I did not lead Clune into that answer to give him an opportunity to make excuses in advance, in case his defense gives up a lot of yards and a lot of points. I just wanted to see how he would express the new reality of college football.

Some people still look at yards allowed per game like it really means something. I saw one of them the other day playing with a Rubik’s Cube and combing his mullet.

Now, of course for a team coming off a 1-11 season most of the stats are going to be ugly, and bad numbers help make the others look worse. Reverse synergy. Hawaii’s no-huddle offense didn’t help its defense in 2013, but Clune said that can be turned on its head this fall.

"I love what our offense does with (pace of play)," he said. "And it definitely prepares us the whole way through. The game has changed since I played in the ’80s and early ’90s. Players are so much faster, offenses have much more speed and do lateral stuff instead of the offense trying to pound you all the time, they do things going sideways, trick you, do everything they can."

It’s good to know the new DC doesn’t necessarily believe in letting the opponents steadily move down the field, hoping they make a mistake.

"We’re not going to stand still and let them dictate to us, we’re going to try to dictate to them. We’re going to be moving around and the kids like that, they like the change-ups. It’s very difficult for an offense to deal with it all. We’re going to do whatever it takes. If it means one defense the entire game that’s what we’ll do. If it means changing it up that’s what we’ll do."

It takes depth to play defense this way — actually, to play it any way successfully in the current day of fast-break football. This is true at linebacker as well as up front, and Clune said both contenders for the starting spot at rover in the 3-4, Julian Gener and Simon Poti, will play a lot.

The defense didn’t make plays last year, and yielding plenty of yards and even points sometimes can be atoned for by turnovers — especially the kind like Gener’s pick-6 against Oregon State last year. The elbow injury ending his season three games in was a crucial loss.

UH’s defense was infamously out of position much of 2013. For the Warriors to play winning defense they must remain healthy, play within the scheme and create chaos.

"Every play, everybody has a job," Gener said. "There’s never a play where I just line up and the coach says free-ball it. No, even if I made a play but did the wrong thing, he’s harping on me. The majority of the time if you make a big play there’s got to be other guys doing something right. … Everything has to be right and everyone has to run to the ball."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.