I've always been on the get a decent P4 train. no real upside to scheduling a 50/50 or 40/60 type OOC.
it is funny though, back in the SWC days we always had OU as a big OOC but and we'd have a PSU or Auburn or someone like that every once in a while as well.
the main goal was to win the SWC and win the cotton bowl. if the chips fell right maybe you win the MNC but if you didn't win your conf and associated bowl game you weren't going to win the NC. Even in the 2 and 4 BCS/playoff format it was harder if you weren't a conf champ of something called the SEC. the SEC made all the other conferences think they needed to schedule a big OOC.
The biggest problem though is we have had 2 solid 10 year periods in the last 40 years where we were a clusterfuck. one was epic scale cheating/with mid coaching and the other was incompetency at the HC position.
now the MNC is actually an NC and that is the main goal and to do that you have to get into the tourney. Yes winning the conf is nice, probably gets you a bye, but as it has always been, you have to minimize the number of losses. before LSU there were zero instances of a team winning the NC with 2 losses BEFORE the bowl game. as an at large, with the unbalanced schedules in the superconference era, you will need to have less than 3(before CCG)90% of the time to make the 7 at large spots.
It would be silly to play games that are a coin flip or worse, when you get to choose the opponent and SOS doesn't matter.