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smart ADs will schedule bigtime non-con games

why?
Because $$$$

more than ever before, it takes $$$ to win at the highest level

Bammer is the obvious example, since they whined the most

Let's say they played and won against the Badgers in Wisconsin - BUT the Badgers finished 10-2 and ranked highly
Let's say Bama played a decent team such as Pitt, North Carolina, or Georgia Tech at 6-6 instead of MERCER

I'd guess that might bump their 3-loss suckbutt into the playoff

It's bad for the sport.  Maybe more watch in the last 2 weeks of November, but there's now ZERO reason to watch in September.  No big OOC games matter, as they all get a mulligan.
Big OOC games are going to slowly decrease over time, as best record is all that matters, not who it's actually against.

I'd argue people watching the sport this way was, has been and always will be bad for the sport. 

If the value of watching games is limited to that particular game's impact on the national title race, we're screwed and we've always been that way. That part has to be in addition to other ways to get joy from watching football. The mulligan thing strikes me as untrue as well. For a long time, the SEC got a functional mulligan. They always got the first tie-breaker with one loss, and having two other undefeated P5 teams was just very rare. But I have sense that didn't mean there was ZERO reason to watch a lot of SEC football. 

The OOC thing is funny as well because that has literally always been the way it's been. If teams wanted to compete nationally, the upside of a big non-conference win was always outweighed by the downside of a loss. Shoot, I remember back in 2008, Ohio  State scheduled USC and got crushed in Week 3. They didn't get credit for it. There was no mulligan of forgiveness. Everyone just said "well, I guess they're out of the title race." Somehow that didn't discourage OOC games (I do think there's a tiebreaker factor, and that actually once swung a national title, but that's another story).

You get a lot of money to have fewer losses and get into the playoff, no?

do playoff teams get all the playoff game money?  or does it go to the conference and distributed?
scheduling a big time home game in Sept is worth some real coin

many perks come with top shelf home games

boosters of substance like to set in their skyboxes for those games
4 & 5-star recruits like to be on the sideline for those games
there's a chance to host GameDay
the national TV audience will be larger with better ratings
a loss may keep you out of the playoff might keep you out of the playoff, but a win may get you in or result in a better seed 

do playoff teams get all the playoff game money?  or does it go to the conference and distributed?
scheduling a big time home game in Sept is worth some real coin

I don't know which amount is more.

many perks come with top shelf home games

boosters of substance like to set in their skyboxes for those games
4 & 5-star recruits like to be on the sideline for those games
there's a chance to host GameDay
the national TV audience will be larger with better ratings
a loss may keep you out of the playoff might keep you out of the playoff, but a win may get you in or result in a better seed

These 3 make a big-opponent home game risky.  The booster may donate less.  The 5* recruit may no longer dig your school.  More millions of people watch you lose.