Disclaimer - I'm a Texas fan, so feel free to take my comments with a grain of salt.
As an objective outsider, your USF Bulls are interesting to watch. As a fan of a team formerly coached by your coach, I can understand your mix of emotions. Your defense is thriving, your special teams are discouraging and your offense is confusing.
Maybe I can offer a bit of encouragement on that last one.
When Sterlin came to Texas, the Horns were off to the races. Charlie gave him free rein and the Horns scored like crazy in the first five games. The problem was the defense couldn't keep up. We were (I imagine) like you last year with Willie Taggert.
So... for the last seven games, Charlie tightened Sterlin's leash. Texas became more of a ball control possession team and the defense made great strides.
As you know, things didn't quite work out for Charlie Strong for a myriad of reasons but I honestly don't believe that his tamping down the offense to help the defense was a problem. In fact, it seemed like a pretty smart thing to do.
So... it looks to me like that's what he's doing there too. He's making Sterlin tap the brakes to build your defense. And it looks like it's working beautifully.
Once your defense has a swagger, he's liable to open up your offense. It may not be as exciting as it was for you last year, but it should have enough firepower to score quickly when a game is on the line.
Good luck. I hope it all works out for you. I especially hope the special teams get straightened out.