When Sonny Dykes took over the program, he knew he couldn’t have a repeat of his Cal tenure. The Golden Bears were consistently excellent on offense but worked through some of the worst defenses in FBS football.

Dykes convinced Northern Illinois defensive coordinator Kevin Kane — a rising defensive mind — to join the program. Even in year one, the decision paid dividends. Outside of a road blowout against UCF, the Mustangs didn’t lose any conference games by more than 10 points. On paper, SMU also jumped 30 spots in scoring defense and nearly 20 spots in total defense.

“We made some big strides defensively last year,” Dykes said. “It gave us a chance to win almost every game we played.”

The Mustangs were especially good against winning teams late in the year. SMU played five games against teams with a winning record in the American Athletic Conference. Other than the UCF game, the Mustangs held all of them below their season scoring average. In fact, SMU actually outscored those teams combined. Heading into year two, there’s even more reasons for optimism in University Park. Top corner Jordan Wyatt and star linebacker Kyran Mitchell are both gone, but every other starter returns. In fact, out of 22 players to post at least 10 tackles a season ago, only three were seniors.

Richard Moore leads what should continue to be a strong linebacker unit. Trevor Denbow and Delano Robinson will try to fill Mitchell’s production. Three of four starters in the secondary are back, including top safety Rodney Clemons. The defensive line is young, but Turner Coxe and Delontae Scott should take steps.

Dykes has a productive offensive system. It would be easy to play a basic bend-don’t-break style. But with hard-nosed NIU football in his veins, Kane wants to shut teams down.

“We’re not going to rely on the offense to outscore them,” Kane said. “It’s our job to stop the other team from scoring points. I think after year one, now we’ve instilled that into our guys, and they’ve gained a philosophy about themselves.”