but I'm confident we're on the fringes. I'm surprised to read you say you watch a lot of football, then say that we're in the 25-40 bucket. What games are you watching?

There's a lot of mediocrity in the current top 25. There always is. Lots of teams that lose games they shouldn't and lots more that play down to poor competition.

I'm curious where you think SMU should be ranked. After all they lost to us, a "mid P4 team," at home. Or is it just BYU's mulligans that you find inexcusable?

Your outlook doesn't seem "realistic" at all. It seems you either disregard the bad you see in other teams, or you disregard the good you see in your own team. Or maybe both. That's textbook pessimism, so don't be surprised when people call it like it is!