@HighEliteMajor thanks for looking that up. I see your point. Here are all the pros and cons to a soft non-con. Pros: Higher seed More total wins (chasing UK all time total) Maybe less stress and Vick doesnt implode? Cons: Less intense games (at the time, did we really appreciate what this team was doing ?) Less battle hardened (leap of faith here that overall being battle tested is a good thing, even if Northern Iowa is a piece of data to the contrary) Less conference wins, i.e no streak?