Looking at 2011 vs 2012
CU: +4, -1
UCLA: -3, -8
Stanford: -30, -7
OSU: -23, -13
Oregon: -15, -25
Cal: -23, -14
ASU: +10, -39
Utah: -3, -43
UW: -3, +3
So, in four instances, Leach's 2012 team outperformed it's 2011 counterpart. In 2 other instances, the difference was less than a touchdown change. Only 3 losses of 25+ points (compared to 10 in 2008). Yeah, you're right, 2012 and 2008 were identical. WSU experienced the same kind of dropoff across the board that we saw in 2008. You asked about offensive talent and say that it was only Gibson and Alfred. You don't mention that one guy who ended up playing in the NFL that Wulff could do nothing with. His name was Chris Ivory. When you look at raw talent, Jeshua Anderson had an impressive debut in 2007 but left the team once he realized that WSU football was not going to help him get anywhere in life.
On the offensive line, Alfred, Rowlands, Lesuma and Hannam were returning starters from 2007. Roxas and Ayers were expected to play well and Guerra was serviceable as well. It wasn't a deep unit but they weren't bad by any means. Before the 2008 season, the WSU media guide listed the OL as the strength of the team. On defense, we returned 2 starters on the defensive line and all of the linebackers. We returned both corners and Chima played at safety after starting at cornerback in 2007. We returned 6 starters on offense and 9 on defense. All BS aside, there was no excuse for the huge dropoff in 2008 other than Wulff burning the m'fer down to the ground.
I tried to find videos of his press conferences in 2008 but couldn't, but I stick with my recollection that Wulff spent the year saying that he was stuck with no talent and Leach spent the whole year saying that the guys needed to quit acting like losers and play harder.