Yeah.. apples and oranges, as
@cowboyinexile pointed out.
Their starting QB was
arguably the number 1 QB in the portal (I didn't think he was, but plenty of analysts/recruiting sites seemed to think he was). We didn't really have a number 1 QB as he played one half of one game and the other threw 3 TDs all season. He's better than that, as I think our coaches/system let him down, but it's still not the same. Their WR1 declared for the draft. Ours transferred to Baylor. Their RB1 nearly doubled the number of yards our RB1 had last year.
Simply put, they were a team coming off a CFP appearance and looking to build on that. We were still trying to win a conference game. Our loses hurt way less and we signed a top QB transfer, the top RB transfer, and WRs that have history with our QB and the head coach. They got some decent transfers in as well but will need to build the continuity that we already have.