still viable, but I would assume they would want to expand to get back to 12 teams. Looking at their history could provide clues as to where they would look at expanding.

In 2005, after getting raided by the Big East, they added 6 schools: 4 from the WAC (SMU, Tulsa, Rice, UTEP), 1 from the MAC (UCF), and 1 from FCS (Marshall)

In 2013, after getting raided by the Big East/American, they added 9 more schools over the next couple years: 5 from the Sun Belt (FIU, FAU, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Western Kentucky) 2 from the WAC (Louisiana Tech, UTSA), and 2 from FCS (Old Dominion, Charlotte).


So 13 schools added in the last 16 years. 9 from the Sun Belt, 6 from the WAC, 3 from FCS, and 1 from the MAC. Based on the fact that the WAC doesn't exist anymore as an FBS conference and the 1 team from the MAC they added was never a good fit for that conference, I would assume that their attention for expansion will be from 3 spots:

1. Sun Belt Conference
2. Independent teams (Liberty, UMass, New Mexico St.)
3. FCS

It seems to me that independent schools like New Mexico St. and Liberty would be obvious candidates to look to. They could also look to the Sun Belt in teams like Texas St., Georgia St., Georgia Southern, South Alabama, and Coastal Carolina. They could also look to an FCS conference like the WAC and see if a team like Stephen F. Austin or Sam Houston St. is interested in making the jump up to FBS football.

No matter what they do, they only have to add 4 teams to get back to 12 so it wouldn't be too difficult for them to find that IMO.