Not strong opponents, but better than BYU's last year. Which is no fault of Zach Wilson or of BYU.

But BYU last year can hang its hat on playing Coastal Carolina (where they lost, albeit on short notice), a weak Boise St team and a mediocre San Diego State.

For example, BYU in 1983 with Steve Young beat a good UCLA team, Mizzou in the Holiday bowl and Air Force back when they were good in the mid 80s. Not a great schedule, but stronger than what we saw this last season.

But you've got a point in general. Still I think this is where NFL success comes in. Not because it changes what they did at BYU, but because it makes it clear how much of it was due to (or regardless of) the competition. Zach Wilson hasn't written that part of his career yet.

But mostly I think we're paying way too much attention to some stats without adjusting for era. Things like completion % and TD/INT ratio have changed massively over the last 30 years and saying ZW is better at those than guys 40 years ago is more a reflection of how the game has changed.

John Elway had a career 62.1 completion rate (never a season over 65.4%) and just under a 2:1 TD/INT ratio.
Davis Mills, the current Stanford QB, has a career 65.5% completion rate and a 2.25:1 TD/INT ration.

Clearly Davis Mills should knock Elway off Stanford's Mt Rushmore