I don’t think it hurts Clemson because Clemson hasn’t/and probably won’t lose, and they generally dominate teams when they do play. Honestly speaking I don’t really care about them.
Its more something to think about when you have a Miami team (in a hypothetical) that may lose a game or two in a given year, scratching and clawing through most of their conference play, and somehow winning the conference championship.. to only not make the playoffs because of their strength of schedule..
That was a very possible scenario before the Virginia game. People would jump up and down about how if Miami just handles their business a one loss ACC champ won’t be left out of the playoffs... But then I think about how the entirety of the PAC 12 was written off after week four..
I think the strength of the ACC definitely would have affected Miami if they had gone on to run the table, playing the way that they do in conference. It’s all hypothetical, and I think an important point to make in any playoff discussion, as I watch people lambast UCF’s inferior schedule week in and week out.