I think you spelled everything correctly.

There are two things that we don't talk about enough, as intelligent and watchful as we may be. The fact is, we don't know more than the coaches and this is manifested in a number of ways.  This falls, broadly, into two categories: (1) intangibles and (2) execution.

As an example of an intangible, though it is clear that Killabrew is not our most talented option at LB, he's thought to be an excellent team leader. How important is the tradeoff? What if Killabrew's motivational abilities make 3 or 4 other starters better than they would otherwise be? Of course, as PB has pointed out, it is not necessarily the case that Killabrew needs to play to be a leader. But it is also not obvious that he could lead if he had significantly redued playing time or lead as effectively. And the fact of the matter is that we just don't know the truth of this or several other situations that seem to us obvious, but may be less so with more knowledge. If only Mack would sell us that info.

The second point here is about execution. Frequently it looks to the observant fan like players are out of position or that that the playcalling is overly conservative. Usually we put these mistakes on the coaches, but at least some of this can be attributed to execution. Part of the reason we talk about the execution aspect less is that we all love the guys who play for us and understand that attacking a kid (insert Gundy rant here) is usually not the right thing to do. Our professional coaching staff understands this as well. Though Mack has been accussed of having overly thin skin, I guarantee you that he'd rather you criticize the staff as oppossed to the players. This is all to say that some of the time it is impossible for us to know where the problems lie since we do not know what was supposed to happen on any given play.

Our coaching staff is very good, but our team is very young. Because of this, and because the confidence of a football player is important to his abilities to execute, the staff may be reluctant to always play the younger (and potentially more talented) guy in a situation in which he may look extremely foolish and lose confidence. I don't think our staff always makes the right decisions (what organization of men does?). But, and not to put to fine a point on it, I do think they are better at football than we are. Lastly, I don't mean to suggest we shouldn't discuss these things, just that we shouldn't overestimate what we know about them.

as usual.  I don't really mean to suggest the fans know better/more than the staff.  I do have problem with the team "taking what they're giving" rather than dictating
the pace/setting the tone through the use of superior talent as it were.  The offensive "attack" during the UCF game made me crazy.  I realize they were in a cover 2 and took away the deep passing game, but there had to be something in the intermediate range somewhere at some point.  I don't understand the fear of challenging the cover 2.  I'd rather have 45-yard pass picked off than a 4-yard out which gets returned for a TD.

Defensively, there is no legitimate strategic reason to keep the present starters in the game.  It is out of loyalty to guys who played on the MNC squad and who've probably worked hard in practice all these years.  There is something to be said for that.  However, it is also out of a refusal to acknowledge the inability of these players to get the job done or to accept that they have failed to live up to their expectations.  I understand and appreciate that they love and care for the players (wouldn't have it any other way) but there comes a time to make the difficult decisions which define the job.

All that being said, I do think the coaches do a great job and should be commended.  I just don't want to see wholesale changes for the better AFTER a needless loss.  I think we've all seen that enough.