Some argue that next season without 10,000-yard passer John Beck and 3,000-yard rusher Curtis Brown, or tight ends Jonny Harline and Daniel Coats, the Cougars will be rebuilding offensively and despite returning almost every defensive starter, will experience serious growing pains defending as champs.
On the other hand, there is evidence the Cougars have already ended the most ugly part of four losing seasons, the heavy work has been done and BYU football has advanced past throwing freshmen quarterbacks and linemen on the field like meat to a pack of lions.
Arizona State transfer Max Hall, operating as a redshirt quarterback on BYU's scout team, has been impressive. While ineligible to play this year, he is learning from Beck, Anae and Brandon Doman — a redshirt season neither John Beck nor Doman got when they started.
Cougar defensive captain Cameron Jensen, who faces Hall every day, says Hall is extremely competitive and makes plays. "He's as good as any starting quarterback we've faced. I'd put him up with any of them. He doesn't have the personnel around him on the scout team that our starters have," said Jensen.
Jensen isn't one to exaggerate. Still, Hall will start next season without any Division I experience.
The real sign of progress, however, may be foundational, according to senior offensive tackle Jake Kuresa, who claims that a conference title and national ranking in 2006 are only the beginning of what Bronco Mendenhall started in Dec. 2005.
The key to BYU's future is already in place — offensive linemen.
"Back when BYU was winning title after title, they consistently had good offensive linemen and a lot of them. Back then it was rare for anyone but a junior or senior to start because of the depth of the line, because it was so mental. We're getting back to that now."
BYU's last great offensive line before this season was 2001, a group coached by Lance Reynolds. They opened holes for Luke Staley, but they'd been tutored by Roger French, who departed in 2000 with LaVell Edwards.
The group included senior starters Teag Whiting at guard and center Jason Scukanec. Juniors Dustin Rykert and Ben Archibald were the tackles and juniors Aaron McCubbins and Issac Herring traded time at the other guard position. They dominated, paving the way for 6.47 yards per BYU offensive play.
In 2006, Kuresa's Cougars are averaging 6.8 yards per play and will return every starter up front but Kuresa in 2007.
Kuresa remembers when he came to BYU in 2002, the need for O-linemen was so great, he switched from the defensive line to a pass blocker. Coaches told him he'd start, there was nobody else, no competition, the job was his.
People come up to Kuresa and praise him for starting every game of his BYU career. "I recognize that, but I'm the first to say there wasn't any depth, there wasn't anybody there for me to beat out or compete against. If I were to come into a program like BYU has right now, there is no way I would be playing as a freshman, or beat out the guys they have right now, even if I was bigger, quicker, stronger and faster — it's a mental thing."
Kuresa says he is the first BYU lineman to grow up with one O-line coach, Jeff Grimes, and admits he and Grimes have butted heads at times.
"I've learned it all and now, the more guys coming through are learning it too and I've been there to help them.
"I didn't have anybody to do that for me, I was the gerbil. Coach and I have had a love-hate relationship but in the end, I've become far better than I ever thought I would and I'm better than he ever thought I would be. I hope I've paved the way," said Kuresa.
BYU's offensive blocking scheme is complex and difficult to learn. It displays efficiency — getting more done with fewer bodies than most teams, Kuresa said. He sees linemen like sophomores Ray Fienga, Dallas Reynolds, Dave Oswald and Travis Bright and junior Sete Aulai as journeymen who've now paid the price in a competitive atmosphere and are very good.
Plus, this winter BYU will have some recruits return from missions. Matt Reynolds, brother of Dallas and Nick Alleto and former starter R.J. Willing will return for school in January. None will be pitched in like meat — but developed. Former Vanderbilt center Tom Sorenson is redshirting after a mission and surgery.
Of BYU's returners in 2007, Kuresa predicts when they are seniors, they will be far better than he is right now. "It has started, that BYU pipeline that they once had. You'll see it at tight end and quarterback. The guys who once experienced losing will now transfer what it takes to be a winner and it will just continue."
Kuresa said BYU's underclassmen will benefit from the bad years in the rear view mirror, of young mistake-prone seasons, learning on the fly. He remembers his baptism by fire. "Sometimes it's hard to relate to coaches. If a coach says something and it doesn't sink in, if you have a teammate who can translate it into your language so you can understand it, you are going to learn at a fast rate."
Prime example, said Kuresa, is starting sophomore right guard Travis Bright (6-foot-4, 314). "Travis is out there dominating, just dominating right now. But in fall camp, he was a mess, he really was. He was a big, strong, gifted athlete with tons of potential, but potential is a terrible word in college, you need to be feeling it."
But with good coaching and experienced players around Bright, Kuresa said his learning rate took off this fall. "Same with Sete, Ray and Oswald, who has come in and not only played but has been awesome. Yeah, he's behind me, but I keep telling him, he'd be starting at a lot of places."
One of the biggest mistakes BYU can make is to ever let it get back to where it was on the offensive line, according to Kuresa. "To have 15 talented offensive linemen competing for a job is huge, it makes everyone step up. Back when I was here, they told me to go out and have fun, the job was mine, they didn't have anybody else and eventually you will figure it out."
True, you don't subtract a senior quarterback the quality of John Beck and not hurt.
But Scukanec, the leader of that 2001 Cougar offensive line that went 12-2 says it all starts on the offensive line.
"You can look at every level of football, there is no question the toughest position to learn is the quarterback position. But at every one of those levels of football, if you have babies on the offensive line, the quarterback, most all of the time, will look average," Scukanec said.
"You put an experienced, well-trained, talented offensive line in front of a quarterback and then and only then will he really have a chance to reach his potential and show what he can do."