I was shocked at your #'s and wanted to verify before I repeated them. Just looking at 2010 most of the "Big Dogs" ( Auburn, Bama, LSU, Ark, and Fla) in the SEC had tougher scheduls than ND last year (going off of your Sagarin SOS rankings). It's the weaker teams in the division that need to play cupcakes because if they don't, they would get drilled week in and week out.
The weaker teams NEED them but the entire conference plays cupcakes by design to build conference wins.
From 2010 SEC Team Schedules
AUB Div 1aa Chatatanooga, La Monroe, Arkansas St
LSU Div 1aa McNeese St, La Monroe
ARK Div 1aaTennesse Tech, La Monroe
ALA Div 1aa Georgia St
UGA Div 1aa Idaho St
SCA Div 1aa Furman, Troy
UF Div 1aa Appalachian St
UTN Div 1aa Tennessee Martin, Memphis
MS Div 1aa Jacksonville St, Tulane
MST Div 1aa Alcorn St, Memphis
UK Div 1aa Charleston Southern
VU -
Vandy was the only SEC team to play all Div 1 Opponents. Something Notre Dame has done every year since the 1930's.
Sagarin's Final Rankings do NOT reflect just SCHEDULED games. It includes League Championship Games and Bowl Games which boosts their schedule strength considerably.