It was basically a lot the same guys.

by FunkDoctorSpock, Your Nightmares, B* tches, Wednesday, March 04, 2009, 07:14 (6240 days ago) @ domer.mq

Shipley, Ohrenberger, and Cadogan were all returning starters. Landolt had played a bunch, too. The only relative newcomer was Wiesniewski.

But a common characteristic of successful teams, even ones that don't necessarily have a dynamic offense, is a very experienced and senior OL. I think Ivan Maisel had an article last year about how 75 career starts is something of a magic number in terms of OL experience:

Oklahoma was at the top with 130 career starts.

33 of the 41 teams that started the year with 75 starts of OL experience played in bowl games.

9 of the top 15 teams had that much experience. Most of the ones that didnt (USC, Texas, Georgia) are recruiting superpowers that either had a very experienced upper class QB and/or a top defense. The other two (TCU and Boise St) are non-BCS conference teams and TCU had the #1 defense in the country.

Also notable:

Ball State had 129. They went from 7-6 to 12-2.
Ole Miss had 99. They went from 3-9 to 9-4.
Alabama had 94. They went from 7-6 to 12-2.
Penn State had 88. They went from 9-4 to 11-2.
Utah had 83. They went from 9-4 to 13-0.
Florida had 76. They went from 9-4 to 13-1.

Notre Dame had 60 starts.
We're projected to have 100 in 2009.