I can see that - VT IMO, was Iowa's only legit fringe top 25 foe last season in the non con and IMO if I am gonna have Iowa lose, I'd rather see them lose to Pitt or Uconn vs Louisiana or SDSU. And again, Iowa really only had control of 4 of those games this season- and they had to be home games I am sure for revenue. They are putrid, but Iowa needed to schedule teams they can beat on the dates they needed to have them, not exactly an easy thing to do never mind that most of the more attractive programs probably are a hard sell to get to come to Carver - Iowa just isn't a feather in anyone's cap right now. If 24 of your 31 games are against P5 teams, that's a pretty decent schedule and at least it feels like more then they've ever played in the past. IMO, the schedule took a step forward this year thanks the the B1G going to 20 games, we would have had 2 more doormats without it.
While true, the question is about the noncon, and in that case, it's not a more difficult schedule. Overall, it might be more difficult, but it's probably about exactly the same.