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‘The Nasty Bunch is back’: New defense promises return to defensive dominance

A year after ranking near the bottom of Conference USA defensive leaderboards, new Defensive Coordinator Austin Armstrong and company have one priority for the season: bring the Nasty Bunch back.

“The first thing we wanted to do here is [teach] how to play defense,” Armstrong said. “Getting to coach in a place with such history and tradition, especially on the defensive side of the ball, it’s really almost a responsibility.”

Armstrong comes onto the scene from his stint as an inside linebackers coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he helped the Ragin Cajuns last season hold three top-five defensive national rankings.