Washington's defensive losses could be addition by subtraction. They were terrible last year. The new guys on the defense couldn't be any worse than the guys from last year.

mormonrasta wrote:

Washington's defensive losses could be addition by subtraction. They were terrible last year. The new guys on the defense couldn't be any worse than the guys from last year.

This is a very good point. A team (or unit) that is mediocre (Washington and UCLA's offense) may just need an influx of new blood and spirits to turn things around - perhaps the bigger question is can they get that good feeling that early in the season?

Pwride wrote:

Just for perspective:

BYU offense loses:
Center
WR
FB

BYU defense loses:
2 MLBs
1 OLB
2 CBs
2 Safeties

I don't think "Touchdown Joe" was ever listed as a starter.
Also on D I thought that Fowler would be considered a starter coming back and we would only really be losing 1 starting safety.

Pwride wrote:

Just for perspective:

BYU offense loses:
Center
WR
FB

BYU defense loses:
2 MLBs
1 OLB
2 CBs
2 Safeties

Just for Clarification, Was Matt Allen actually considered a starter. I assume that we had two wide receivers on the starting roster, Collie and Reed, and that Matt Allen was #3 and the backup. Also, I don't want to get nit picky, but was Semanoff actually the starter, or was Tonga the starter.

The only reason I'm picking this apart is that you could look at it through extreme blue goggles to say that we only lost one actual starter on Offense. Fowler could be considered a starter if you use the rational of Devil Puncher and look at the two deep of the last game to say that we only lose 6 starters on Defense instead of seven. This is a very glass half full mentality, but its true...

DevilPuncher wrote:

Seeing as though non-conference games have been our bane, I found myself thinking (worrying) a lot about our games with UCLA and Washington. So much so that I did a little research that calmed my nerves a little. Here is what I found.**

UCLA loses the following starters on Offense:

Split end (backup has 2 games starting experience)
Left guard (backup has no starting experience)
Center (backup has no starting experience)
Right Tackle (backup has no starting experience)
Tailback (backup has 5 games starting experience)
Flanker (backup has no starting experience)

UCLA loses the following starters on Defense:

Defensive Tackle (backup has no starting experience)
Right Defensive End (backup has no starting experience)
Middle Linebacker (backup has no starting experience)
Left Corner (backup has 1 game starting experience)
Strong Safety (backup has no starting experience)
Free Safety (backup has no starting experience)

Washington loses the following starters on Offense:
(I could not find the data for the backup's starting experience)

Split End
Flanker
Center
Right Guard
Right Tackle
Tight End
Tailback

Washington loses the following starters on Defense:

Right Defensive Tackle
Left Defensive Tackle
Right Defensive End
Left Outside linebacker
Left Inside Linbacker
Free Safety
Strong Safety
Right Corner

**Note: I got this off of the last game played for each team for the 2007 season (UCLA vs. BYU; Washington vs. Hawaii). I am assuming those are fairly accurate depth charts as they listed who was redshirting and injured etc.

There, don't you feel a little better? I do.

Finally, both teams begin spring practice April 3rd.

I appreciate the research effort but personally I'm much less interested in how many games the backup started than whether the backup had a significant amount of playing time during those games he didn't start.

Conosticator wrote:

DevilPuncher wrote:

Seeing as though non-conference games have been our bane, I found myself thinking (worrying) a lot about our games with UCLA and Washington. So much so that I did a little research that calmed my nerves a little. Here is what I found.**

UCLA loses the following starters on Offense:

Split end (backup has 2 games starting experience)
Left guard (backup has no starting experience)
Center (backup has no starting experience)
Right Tackle (backup has no starting experience)
Tailback (backup has 5 games starting experience)
Flanker (backup has no starting experience)

UCLA loses the following starters on Defense:

Defensive Tackle (backup has no starting experience)
Right Defensive End (backup has no starting experience)
Middle Linebacker (backup has no starting experience)
Left Corner (backup has 1 game starting experience)
Strong Safety (backup has no starting experience)
Free Safety (backup has no starting experience)

Washington loses the following starters on Offense:
(I could not find the data for the backup's starting experience)

Split End
Flanker
Center
Right Guard
Right Tackle
Tight End
Tailback

Washington loses the following starters on Defense:

Right Defensive Tackle
Left Defensive Tackle
Right Defensive End
Left Outside linebacker
Left Inside Linbacker
Free Safety
Strong Safety
Right Corner

**Note: I got this off of the last game played for each team for the 2007 season (UCLA vs. BYU; Washington vs. Hawaii). I am assuming those are fairly accurate depth charts as they listed who was redshirting and injured etc.

There, don't you feel a little better? I do.

Finally, both teams begin spring practice April 3rd.

I appreciate the research effort but personally I'm much less interested in how many games the backup started than whether the backup had a significant amount of playing time during those games he didn't start.

This is a valid interest. However, I did notice that many of those listed as second string were also seniors, if I recall that was especially true with UCLA. Nevertheless, I did not intend my post to be a slanted insight as to why Washington and UCLA were going to suck. On the contrary, I think that outside of Utah they will be our two toughest games. The information you seek I could not find or I would have posted it (washington didn't even list any type of "experience" information). You are welcome to find that out and contribute.