That schedule talk is nonsense. We played real schedules back in the day, none of this manufactured difficulty. I remember when the MIAA was a weekly meat grinder, playing Pittsburg State and Northwest Missouri back-to-back. You didn't hear us whining about a "brutal schedule." You just lined up and played. Auburn's problem is they can't develop talent anymore, so they have to buy it every year from the portal. If they had a coach like Schurig or Collins, they'd relish those games. This whole "strength of schedule" ranking is just ESPN tying to create drama for a team that hasn't earned real respect in decades. Their fans have forgotten what building a program actually looks like.