Utah 2008 played a pretty tough schedule. They had four ranked opponents, including BYU and TCU who were both top 15 when they played. We might have one or two fringe top 25 opponents this year, probably nothing close to Top 15.

Utah 2004 at least tried... they scheduled three BCS schools (TAMU, UNC, and Arizona). Arizona was awful, UNC went 6-5 before losing a bowl game, TAMU was ranked as high as 15th until they collapsed at the end of the season and finished 7-5 after their bowl game. I guess you could make a weak argument that our schedule is comparable to theirs.

TCU had both BYU and Utah on the schedule, both ranked in the Top 15, which means it was undeniably better than what we have this year. In 2009 they also played at Virginia and at Clemson. Virginia is as awful as always, but Clemson went 8-5. In 2010, they also played a ranked Oregon State team and a 7-6 Baylor. So yeah, definitely better than our schedule this year.

In 2010, Boise State's schedule was pretty bad, except they did beat an Oregon team at home that finished the season in the Top 10. Again, we might not have a single Top 25 team on our schedule...

Really, the only argument that really holds water is BSU's run in 2006. It was truly an abysmal schedule. Their very toughest games of the year were Oregon State at home and Utah on the road... both of whom had down years.