I always hear in my head the phrase "what do we think, what do we know, what can we prove." Those are often three very different things. Nearly everything in this discussion fits into the "what do we think" category. And that's totally cool. That is exactly what discussion boards are for and I love the sharing of opinions and reasons why people think what they do. There's a lot of great thoughts here. But very little fits into "what do we know" much less "what can we prove." And I don't mean all of this to be in response to just you
@slugboy it's just your post that I replied to.
My own opinion is that the guys who are obviously top level talent will be found by the NFL wherever they are. It's possible some of them will be drafted a bit higher if they are on a team PERCEIVED to be better or PERCEIVED to play more often against tougher competition simply because there's a lot of bias by the people making decisions. But most of the time they'll still get drafted high. And the kids that are at schools considered to be lower level who were awesome on the field against perceived weaker opponents and are also freakish athletes will get drafted because they have those freakish measurables to go along with performance on the field and there will be teams, especially in the middle to lower rounds, who will gamble on those kids. I also believe that some of the kids believe they have a better chance of getting drafted if they are at one of those big name schools. Who knows if they are right or wrong. So much of this is based on perception.
BTW speaking of Ashton Jeanty... had he been playing at a school in the SEC or B1G I think nobody would be even considering strength of schedule when arguing whether he deserves the Heisman or Travis Hunter should get it. Not saying he would win if he was on an SEC or B1G team. Just saying that aspect of the argument against him would go away. Personally I'm in awe of the guy and if I had a Heisman vote he'd get it. And I also agree that most scouts won't care what the strength of schedule was for Boise State.
Fun challenge... who can guess which movie it was that I saw that phrase used on a chalkboard (yes, a chalkboard, not even a whiteboard). I'll give you a hint. It does not involve lawyers or innocence and guilt of any kind.