First, the bar is most definitely higher now than it was then. There are quite a few players from that era that would not get approval now.

Second, our schedule is generally harder now. Except for the upper end of the SEC, there is a lot more parity now in college football than there was in the 80’s. This is mostly due to TV and strict recruiting violation enforcement. I personally believe we are generally getting better skill position players now than we did back then. We don’t seem to be getting the lineman like we used to. Utah has a lot to do with that I think. Ricks and Snow were great feeder programs but good players are found by every program now. I think the PAC10 used to get the cream of the crop out West but now they go East.