to other P5 conferences).

You can laugh at Craig Thompson all you want, but this is precisely what he did for the MWC when BYU, Utah, and TCU departed. It stabilized his conference--and literally killed WAC football.

Bowlsby and B12 would be wise to follow the Thompson Plan. Stay together, take the top teams from the MWC and AAC and severely weaken those conferences while stabilizing the B12. The B12 adding BYU, Boise, Houston, and Cinci is immediately on PAR or better than PAC12 in football, and significantly better than the PAC12 in basketball.