Personally, I'd rather play a tougher schedule with more exciting games throughout the year than hang my hat on the chance of beating the 1 decent to good team on the schedule and the 11 middling teams/cupcakes.
This year Boise plays one Top 50 team... BYU.
OTOH, BYU plays seven Top 50 teams and has a SOS ranked 38th.
http://www.bcftoys.com/2016-sos/