2012 - BSU (11-2): Somewhat average year for them
L - @Michigan State (#13, 7-6 record) - 13-17
W - Miami (OH, 4-8 record) - 39-12
W - BYU (8-5 record) - 7-6
W - @UNM (4-9 record) - 32-29
W - @Southern Miss (0-12 record) - 40-14 **COMMON OPPONENT**
W - Fresno St (9-4 record) - 20-10
W - UNLV (2-11 record) - 32-7
W - @WYO (4-8 record) - 45-14
L - SDSU (9-4 record) - 19-21
W - @Hawaii (3-9 record) - 49-14
W - Colorado St (4-8 record) - 42-14
W - @Nevada (7-6 record) - 27-21
W - Washington (7-6 record) - 28-26 (LV Bowl)

2012 - ECU (8-5): One of their average "8 win" years
W - App State (FCS) - 35-13
L - @SouthCarolina (#9, 11-2 record) - 10-48
W - @Southern Miss (0-12 record) - 24-14 **COMMON OPPONENT*
L - @UNC (8-4 record) - 6-27
W - UTEP (3-9 record) - 28-18
L - @UCF (10-4 record) - 20-40
W - Memphis (4-8 record) - 41-7
W - @UAB (3-9 record) - 42-35
L - @Navy (8-5 record) - 28-56
W - Houston (5-7 record) - 48-28
W - @Tulane (2-10 record) - 28-23
W - Marshall (5-7 record) - 65-59 (2OT)
L - UL-Lafayette (9-4 record) - 34-43 (New Orleans Bowl)

- Ignore the early road loss to Mich St (BSU close loss, decent Sparty team) and South Carolina (ECU blowout to great SC team) and the FCS game for ECU (I don't think that one really adds to their SOS argument)
- BSU went 4-1 against the other 5 teams with winning records (BYU, Fresno, SDSU, Nevada, Washington)
- ECU went 0-4 against the other 4 teams with winning records (UNC, UCF, Navy, UL-Lafayette)
- BSU "best win": Fresno (9-4) or BYU (8-5)
- ECU "best win": Houston (5-7) or Marshall (5-7)
- Common opponent (Southern Miss, 0-12) doesn't reveal much, but BSU certainly looked better against a horrifically bad team

Does anyone really think that ECU's 8-5 came against a "much harder schedule" than BSU's 11-2?