I get it, you hate Kelly. While the 2001 schedule was ok, let's remember we also helped most of those teams out with extra wins, as we were shitty and went 5-6. Let's say, for example, we went 9-2 (losing the two top 10 games against Nebraska and Tennessee as we did that year). Our wins (remember, in this scenario, some of these final records would be one loss worse, as we would have beaten the teams and not lost) would have been against 5-6 MSU, 7-5 A&M, 7-5 Pitt, 3-8 WVU, 6-6 USC, 7-5 BC, 0-10 Navy, 8-4 Stanford, and 6-6 Purdue. Stanford at 8-4 would have been the only team probably ranked, and that would have been right near the bottom. I could just imagine the "we didn't beat anyone good" conversations going on then, too.
Anyway, I think it's absurd to say this year's team loses to 4 of those 9 other teams on the schedule. I'm guessing we could have gone at least 6-3 against them (if you assume we would lose to Nebraska and Tennessee), and probably a ton better.