You can't fault Alabama on their schedule. They get assigned 8 conference opponents, 6 they get every year regardless. The motivation for conference-aligned teams is to win the conference title, so again, I can't fault Alabama for scheduling 1 live-body in the OOC portion to prevent wear and tear detrimental to the #1 goal (win the SEC).
Notre Dame still schedules the same 3-4 gimme games but they are a tad more aggressive partly because they only have a national title resume to build and no conference championship to win. Independence seemed stupid when they were scheduling these types of games and going 5-7 or 6-6 or 7-5. Independence seems brilliant win they can go 11-1 or 12-0. They have much more latitude in their scheduling because they can cherry pick cross-sectional matchups to validate their team in the eyes of voters across the nation. A Stanford and USC win brings some West Coast respect; their Big Ten run brings some Midwest respect; their ACC games got them so face time on the East Coast; and their Oklahoma game got some respect out of the Sun Belt.
Notre Dame still schedules the same 3-4 gimme games but they are a tad more aggressive partly because they only have a national title resume to build and no conference championship to win. Independence seemed stupid when they were scheduling these types of games and going 5-7 or 6-6 or 7-5. Independence seems brilliant win they can go 11-1 or 12-0. They have much more latitude in their scheduling because they can cherry pick cross-sectional matchups to validate their team in the eyes of voters across the nation. A Stanford and USC win brings some West Coast respect; their Big Ten run brings some Midwest respect; their ACC games got them so face time on the East Coast; and their Oklahoma game got some respect out of the Sun Belt.