Well, FM lost to Daniel, HH, and NW. I don't really view those as slouches, but I understand where you are coming from about a poor tie breaking system.
The good teams all play bad teams in college football, at the beginning to get geared up for the better ones. Thats why temple had such a tough schedule, so Virginia, Miami, Wisconsin, etc. could beat the crap out of them. You know beating someone 65-0 sure would get my football team ready for the season also.
The better analogy would be that like Clemson, Virginia, and Wisconsin, NW chose to play weaker teams. While it gives you that much needed rest after tough games, it can also hurt them in the long run. I understand what you are saying though, Temple was just a funny analogy.