So I'm new to the D1 level and have a tough slate of teams to play. My team is ranked 87th on guess reports. I know with my normal offensive philosophy won't be able to beat teams that are way better than me. I'm looking to air it out more and try to get big plays hopefully upsetting some teams. I thought it kind of worked against 33rd Kansas but my defense is just plain horrible. Now I face 66th Washington. Can anyone give me tips to dissect a dime defense? I noticed when teams go shotgun they go Dime Defense with a cover long and sometimes blitz there linebacker.

Right now my game plan is to go shotgun throw 100% short and medium with a few runs with my receiver. I was thinking about changing some athlete to QB so I can run with him since there's only 5 in the box. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Depends if your O is better than his D. If so I stick with original plan of passing.
Another idea is to practice some on Trips and carry a RB.
I used to use my QB's to run. They were decent not great runners but usually could get the job done.
Overall, by practicing and using Shotgun 'only'(if you do) you are pretty much committed to a lot passing. I would stick with this and use the runs only on short yardage situations. Even a mediocre running QB can pick up a yard or 2.
Another idea is If his Db's are stronger than his Lb's, and if you have good receiving Te's, Pass heavy to the Te's. They are supposed to be mainly covered by Lb's.

If your commited to the gun I'd find a running qb. Also might be good to find a wr who you could use as if he were a rb. Higher str and gi added in to the normal wr attributes. Just some thoughts.