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You know the nice thing about a "we're just trying to kick the tires for next year" approach?
It's a preemptive defense mechanism for when Utah beats you by three scores

Kinda like SEC teams who just aren't motivated...

The older I get and the more CFB I watch, the less convinced I am of the efficacy of this. I mean, I'm sure there's a non-zero bit of preparation, but I'm not sure it's enough to be notable.

It's a pretty common belief across CFB and sports that talent+PT=down the road success, with more PT at whatever stage more quickly moving someone along that curve.

There's probably a selection bias in my memory, but it seems like the number of "played early, was rough, ended up benefitting in a notable way down the line" stories isn't all that long, and the number of "played early, team took lumps with him, plateaued at just OK/decent" stories feels much longer. And plenty of successful guys are going in either when they earn the time or when the chance simply opens up. (I think Florida sold last year's bowl as "the start of next season" and ...)

And the "play the exciting guy now, it'll payoff" narrative seems really, really appealing. The thing you want now (seeing the player that inspires hope) is also going to lead to a longterm hope payout. It's something fans basically everywhere ask for. Now, with OSU, it's not a choice, and it's unknown, so there's no right or wrong. But I guess this is a long way of saying I'm skeptical that losing young this week means anything more than the slightest better chance of winning in the future (though I think OSU is gonna run ND regardless of if all those guys were there and played like they were supposed to).

EDIT: I didn't even answer the question. I think winning matters. Do the thing that makes the most sense to win the game in front of you. That approach will likely lead to more wins down the road.

That's fair. Some recent UW QB things really stand out in the genre.

They're at four multi-year starters in a row where going in early was supposed to get things more secure down the line. And to this point, there hasn't been a real down the road payout. Graham Mertz is heading into Year 4, and getting throw to the wolves in Year 2 didn't make this year any better. The guy before him, Jack Coan, went from decidedly bad in Year 2 or highly competent in Year 3, but he was about to start a fourth year where it was all but assumed he'd have calls for his benching with a four-star behind him (he instead got hurt and ended up transferring).

• Seeing next years' starters TOGETHER:  If you look, for example, and WR's for tOSU any of next years' starters that are on campus have probably played at least some so it is probably true that a little more PT in the RB is largely irrelevant to how they will perform next year.  However, they haven't played all together so this give the coaches a chance to see that.  
• Coaches assessing and evaluating needs:  With the transfer portal being a thing, this could be very important.  For example, if some random position group has their senior starters opt out and then that position group looks just flat awful against Utah that should probably tell Ryan Day that he should hit up the transfer portal for some help at that position.  

He at least had an injury he wasn't coming back from