(01-29-2015 05:48 PM)KnightLight Wrote: (01-29-2015 04:02 PM)Cubanbull Wrote: Better calculation would be multiply number of games played by 11 on defense and 11 on offense and those would give you total starts on both sides of the field.
Under those conditions USF 12 games times 11 starters = 132 total starts on offense and defense .
Returning on Defense 90 starts so 68%
Returning on offense 69 starts so 52%
That could be a way to count anyone who started a game...but many times during the season, back-ups have to start because of injuries (or off-the-field problems) so I could see how Steele didn't count them as full-time starters coming back.
I can see why he did it the way he did it as well but I do think there is merit to looking at other starters as well. He would have spent years looking at all FBS teams and trying to figure out who started each game and why but there are situations where his method doesn't tell the whole story.
For example ECU's starts at DE in 2014
Chrishon Rose - 8 (41 tackles, 4 TFL)
Jonathan White - 7 (31 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks)
Fred Presley - 6 (35 tackles, 8 TFL, 6 sacks)
Terry Biles - 4 (17 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks)
Demitri McGill - 1 (7 tackles)
There is a difference, IMO, between losing a 13 game starter and losing an 8 game starter and a 4 game starer with equal or less sacks than either of the other 2 DEs with significant starts. Of course it would make no sense for Steele to go into this kind of depth but it still paints a fuller picture than just counting Rose as one starter and White as the other and Rose is gone.
And again this is on every team
I guess maybe I'm not so much arguing how to determine returning starts as much as questioning how important it is to be designated a starter or 2nd string. If you pretty much split time with even level of play it doesn't matter. On the other end of the spectrum we lose a 3 year starter in Carden and replace him with a QB who has run under 20 plays with the Pirates. Yet Rose and Carden are both represented as losing 1 starter.