The top of your schedule is tougher as an independent than it would be in the MWC. Here's the MWC if BYU joins (IMO):

WEST:
Hawaii
SDSU
SJSU
Fresno
UNLV
UNR

MOUNTAIN:
Boise
BYU
USU
UNM
CSU
AF
Wyoming

Now maybe if you add one more (say NMSU or UTEP) then Boise gets moved west, or they divide it North/South so everyone gets to play in California every year. So a North/South would be something like this (and yes, a bunch of the schools are in the wrong division if we're doing this strictly according to geography, but done for competitive balance and to spread the CA teams around):

North:
Boise
Nevada
Fresno
SJSU
USU
BYU
Wyoming

South:
CSU
AF
SDSU
UNM
UTEP
UNLV
Hawaii

Either way, your SOS will be worse than it is now, and you won't have any really tough games like you do now. On the other hand, winning 11 games with a schedule made up of one of those divisions shouldn't be too tough. Beat Boise and you're probably going to the championship game with a shot at the NY6 bowl.