On paper things looked way tough last year but Washington ended up being the only real formidable opponent. 8-5 Wisc and losing record AZ are very similar to P5's faced in the past.
Don't forget some years in the MWC conference days we had a tough non-conf and had to deal with top 10 TCU/Utah some years and they were also frequently in the top 25.
We certainly aren't going 4-9 or 7-6 because the schedule is too tough. Lots of winnable games being left on the table. When you are losing to UMass at home on senior day or N. Illinois you can only try to justify so much.