At the start of the season, outside of 2nd Team All PAC-12 DE Travis Long (who was injured for the UW game), WSU's front 7 had a total of 12 starts playing college football games between them. Several of the best D players from the 2011 team either left the team or were kicked off prior to the season. Essentially most of their defense was brand new.

Connor Halliday was still recovering from a lacerated liver as late as September, so he missed both Spring and Fall camp. Remember this is a guy who put up 494 yards in 3 quarters against ASU as a RS Freshman in 2011, and tossed 5 tds against UCLA this year.

Leach will have a full year under his belt and I hear from people close to the team that the remaining players on the team have fully bought in to his system. Leach is still one of the brightest Oh-fensive minds in the game today, despite his quirks, and he will find a way to get the best out of his team. Now that he has something of an experienced defense he will be able to have more success.

Utah will find a way to put a very good defense on the field, but we are lacking a visionary Oh-fensive mind. If Utah can't find an offensive identity before the season, and I am not sure we will. For somebody who grew up watching the record-setting offenses with Scott Mitchell and Eddie Johnson this lack of an outstanding offense saddens me.