The only thing that ND needs to do is join a conference. Whoever puts together their schedule does as good a job as anyone in the country. But playing only 12 games each season really hurts them.
The committee needs to consider that the Big 12 has 2 significant advantages over the other P5 conferences - they don't play that 13th game (no conference championship), and they have extended their season an additional week so that their best teams play on conference championship weekend giving those team an extra bye week over the course of the season. Somehow this narrative isn't pointed out. Folks would rather talk about inane things like the number of conference games or a scattered FCS opponent than the big picture.
For every team, at the end of the season, look at each team's total body of work. It is harder to beat 6 ranked teams in a season than 3. It is harder to win 13 games than 12. It is harder to do that with 1 bye than 2. Things like who you lost to, or when you lost to them, should only come into play after these other three factors are considered because the fist three play a much larger role in the ability of a team to make it through an entire season with 1 or fewer losses.
But what the committee did last year, and what they will do this year, is boil the entire season down to the last 2 weekends for most teams. The only 2 teams who can get into the playoffs right now with no style points are Alabama and Clemson. Clemson because they are undefeated and beat ND, and Alabama because of the huge gap between your SoS and the rest of the pack. Win and you are in. Everyone else is going to have to win impressively the next 2 weeks or risk being jumped by someone with inferior credentials because they got hot or played well while the committee was completely focused for the first time all season on this job.
Last year this produced a championship for my Buckeyes. With every committee member sitting in a room together watching, we beat Wisconsin 59-0 with a 3rd string QB and jumped into the playoffs over 2 teams from the Big 12 who were receiving more accolades the entire season. We got hot at exactly the right time and rode that wave into the playoffs.
Who will make that jump this season? It makes this last stretch a lot more exciting for a whole lot more fans, but it also demonstrates the flaws remaining in a system that will leave out equally qualified teams again this year.