Not sure what happened but college football lost their way and courage along their 12 game schedule journey. Back when 11 regular-season games were the norm it was pretty much all power 5 and a few mid-tier teams mixed in for competition. Looking back at almost any power 5 team's schedule in the 70s is rather startling compared to the patsies we consume these days.
Look, man, I want to be respectful and all, I'm not against you because you're a Bama guy.
But cooooome on, now. Yes, at certain times (like when the SEC only played 6 conference games out of 11 regular season games), there were opportunities for good OOC schedules. But to say "it was pretty much all power 5 and a few mid-tier teams mixed in for competition" really streeeetches the imagination. I mean, for one thing, there was no "Power 5", but hey, I'll just chalk that up to "a guy in 2022 trying to analyze the 1970s without context".
So let's step into a time machine, to see how amaaaaaazing some of these years were. To make things simple, I'm going to analyze Alabama's six national championship seasons under Bear Bryant.
1961 - setting aside the fact that patsies like Tulane and GaTech were in the SEC, let's look at that brutal OOC schedule:
---NC State (ACC) 4-6 record, no bowl
---Houston (IND) 5-4-1 record, no bowl
---Richmond (I-AA) 5-5 record
1964 - the SEC still had Tulane, but GaTech went independent by this time. OOC schedule:
---NC State (ACC) 5-5 record, no bowl
---GaTech (IND) 7-3 record, no bowl
1965 - again, not so good:
---Florida State (IND) 4-5-1 record, no bowl
---South Carolina (ACC) 5-5, no bowl
1973 - some FUTURE familiar names. OOC schedule:
---Cal (Pac 8) 4-7 record, no bowl
---VaTech (IND) 2-9 record, no bowl
---University of Miami (IND) 5-6 record, no bowl
1978 - now this year, I'll give you some credit, Alabama played some good teams, including USC (and we all know what happened there):
---Nebraska (Big 8) 9-3 record
---Mizzou (Big 8) 8-4 record
---USC (Pac 10) 12-1 record, co-national champions with Alabama
---Washington (Pac 10) 7-4 record, no bowl
---VaTech (IND) 4-7 record, no bowl
1979 - again, some FUTURE familiar names:
---GaTech (ACC) 4-6-1 record, no bowl
---Baylor (SWC) 8-4 record
---Wichita State (I-AA) 1-10 record
---VaTech (IND) 5-6 record, no bowl
---University of Miami (IND) 5-6 record, no bowl
That means, in 5 of Alabama's 6 national championship seasons under Bear (not counting 1978, which was admirable), the Crimson Tide played exactly ONE team in I-A that made a bowl game (Baylor in 1979).
So please stop regaling us with mythical tales of the days of yore when Alabama used to play a fearsome OOC schedule and conquer all of its foes en route to another national championship. I'll give you 1978. The rest is just a dream.