Wasn't that caused by the tremendous growth in the size of the BE? The ACC has to deal with that now with the having 15 teams.
A lot in the NCAA is married to the increasingly quaint notion of "fairness". Yes, ESPN will give a gazillion bucks for 2 bball games a year between X and Y, but the conference also believes Z, who is a member in good standing also deserves to have 2 games against X and then Y in order to be fair to everyone. Plus, instead of X or Y having a guaranteed loss, they stand a good chance of picking up a win against the weaker Z team. Z has one reason less to be resentful of X and Y. Look at the fb overtime rule. The NCAA OT is structured on fairness, both teams get the ball, even if the first team on offense gets a TD. They don't want the game decided by who wins the coin flip. They're trying to be fair, not to get the game over ASAP so the next games can be televised.