... are starters playing under the new engine? There's obviously nothing I can do about it at this point, but in general last season my starters often got outplayed but my bench beat nearly everyone's benches. Is depth really playing less of a role now?

It depends on your settings and game tempo.

If you play "fairly fresh" for a starter and "getting tired" for a bench player then the bench player will get slightly more minutes than the starter (at least through 7 games so far). I am doing this because I promised a start to a Freshman, but I would rather play the upperclassman as many minutes as possible.

In games with lower tempo and less plays, the starter gets a few more minutes, while in the up tempo games, the bench guy gets more minutes.

This also depends on the stamina of the guys involved, obviously.

Well, your example is a little different because the backup has 96 sta and the starter has 79.

Honestly, dahs, I think starters are playing about the same as they were before.

I haven't noticed a huge difference in minutes played, maybe 2-3 more minutes more