That playing a non-P5 team puts your playoff hopes at risk because losing to them would eliminate you from contention.

Isn't that the wrong way to look at it? I can understand the logic that potentially the SOS would take a hit and THAT would be the eliminating factor. But the fear that you could lose to a "lesser" team and potentially be outside looking in doesn't make much sense.

If you're trying to create the most intriguing playoff, don't you want to know who the best teams are at the end of the season? It's a pretty bad narrative that the playoff teams could potentially take the spot of a non-P5 in the playoff simply because they avoided losing to them in the regular season.