Except overall record does matter if you don't win your conference. SMU would have no chance to make the playoffs with 3 losses even though they went undefeated in ACC. If UGA remains a permanent OOC opponent, I would rather have 3 very winnable games.
After some consideration, I agree.
Tough OOC scheduling means that you have a narrower and more risky path to the CFP. Clemson did it by winning the ACC, but otherwise their 3 losses (2 OOC) would have been a disqualifier. Not only that but it took a last-game Miami loss to even get them into the championship.
Conversely, SMU had one close OOC loss to the only good OOC team they played. Otherwise they had a relatively easy OOC schedule. Their close loss in their conference championship game was enough to get into the playoff.
Bottom line, for a CFP bid (with few exceptions) you need to a) win enough conference games to get into your conference championship, and b) win it if you have multiple OOC losses, or just look good if you don’t.
I’ve concluded that scheduling relatively winnable OOC games is the easier path to the playoffs, if that’s your goal. If for example we had gone 7-1 in the ACC, made it to the championship, but lost a close one to Clemson like SMU did, our losses to ND and uga would have disqualified us from the CFP. Would anyone prefer that over getting to the CFP with a chance at making some noise? I wouldn’t.