between the MWC today and back then.
Back then:
- Utah and TCU were in the conference, recent WAC teams were not. It's basically the WAC + Boise now
- No other in-state P5 team to compete against for recruits
- P5 didn't mean the same thing; the Big East was a BCS conference and no better than the MWC
Yes, we're being out-recruited as an Independent; but I would bet my donor seats that the gap worsens significantly if we went back to the MWC