Not sure that I agree with the Duquesnes and Daytons dragging us down. In fact, in some cases I think they might (unfairly as it is) drag us up (the perception that Dayton is a playoff team but is, in actuality, equivalent to a lower level MVFC team). The reason people have talked about, say, Ohio State's OOC schedule in the past, is because their conference didn't offer them a lot of ranked games... the idea being that they played weak OOC AND weak conference opponents. OOC has little to do with YSU's specific playoff situation... it is entirely based on our conference. We are guaranteed 4 or 5 ranked games a year in conference games alone. Why play 1 or 2 more when they can only hurt us?
You're pretty much guaranteed to go 2-1 against an FBS and 2 medium/low teams and you will have to go at least 5-3 in conference to have a chance at playoffs. On a good year, you MAY go 2-1 OOC games against an FBS and 2 ranked teams and you STILL have to go 5-3 in conference to have a chance at playoffs. And as far as preparation for MVFC football, there are pros and cons to playing both Dayton/Duquesne and Montana/McNeese St.
The problem isn't the OOC. We have to perform better in-conference... plain and simple.