My Dad coached 2A football out in small town Oregon back in the mid to late 70's, they ran 8 man football and maybe suited 25-30 kids for a game. When a few kids got hurt, it showed on the field.
That being said, the new unit has now had several weeks to gel together. Best performance so far @ Idaho, but need their A+ game Saturday night. Coombs and his defensive captains are going to be putting in a ton of hours this week.
Explaining to my Dad the state of the season and we're both concluding that If we don't beat Idaho tomorrow, we don't make the playoffs. That damn Mercer result is killing us.