I really don't understand the fans bitching about our schedule

Ok, on the one hand, yes, there are not many fun games to see at home this year. It's a non-USC year and our big OOC game (A&M) was away. So if you hold season tickets, it's not a great season for you.

But if the bigger picture is high playoff seeds and a championship, this is how you do it. If you kill yourself, you schedule yourself out of a playoff spot.

Let's consider the following schedule:

East Carolina (home)
UNLV (home)
Bowling Green (home)
Rutgers (home)
@ Nebraska
@ Minnesota
Indiana (home)
@ Michigan State
Bye
Purdue (home)
@ Penn State
@ Maryland
Ohio State (home)

You think any fans of that team are complaining about the schedule? Hate to give credit to shitbags, but coordinating a legendarily weak schedule year with one actually hard road game and your hardest game at home to fall in the year when you have like 40 seniors/grad students, is pretty smart. And it paid off.

Edit: and they still had to cheat to beat Maryland by only a touchdown