Arizona's defensive success last season was heavily tied to facing Pac-12 offenses that were largely inept. Their top-30 havoc rate is misleading without context from a weak conference schedule. The structural foundation you mention is now being tested against the consistent offensive firepower of the Big 12, where patient schemes get exposed by superior quarterback play. Maintaining a 35% third-down rate against teams like Kansas State and Utah is a completely different challenge. The portal losses matter because the system relied on specific athletes executing those hybrid roles. Calling it a reload ignores the proven difficulty of replicating production with new personnel in a new league. Their defensive numbers will regress toward the conference mean by midseason.