Pac 12 added Colorado & Utah & Big Ten added Nebraska to join ACC, SEC, MAC & C-USA with 12 teams. The Big XII said they'll operate with 10 teams and round robin football Pac-10 style. The Big East is feeling left out with 8 teams.

Villanova will follow UConn & jump from a championship caliber 1-AA program to be the 9th team & allow the Big East to have a real 8 game conference schedule for the 1st time since Boston College left in 2005. Now it sounds like they won't stop there.

When conferences expand they want to add a great football program (i.e. ACC - Miami, Big Ten - Penn State & Nebraska, Mtn West - Boise State) not just filler schools.  There is 1 such program left out there for the Big East to get & that's Texas Christian in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.  TCU has been jumping conferences since the SWC got shut down for cheating - WAC, C-USA, Mtn West while they look for a permanent home.  TCU jumps at the chance to join a BCS conference but travel only makes sense if...

Houston joins the Big East to give TCU a rival & travel partner.  Houston has been fighting for inclusion to the BCS party since the SWC was shut down too.  They've been in the C-USA since 1995 with the rest of the SWC leftovers - SMU & Rice. But Houston is a big commuter school just like...

The largest student body in the nation Central Florida joins to give the Big East a 2nd team in Florida. They're a natural rival for South Florida being in Orlando & Tampa & were in the C-USA together before South Florida was chosen to replace Miami in 2005.

Now the Big East has 12 teams & creates divisions.  A traditional Big East called North division of Syracuse, Rutgers, UConn, Pitt, West Virginia & newbie Villanova in 2013-14.  Then an ex-C-USA division called South division of TCU, Houston, South Florida, Central Florida, Louisville & Cincinnati.

What the newest 12 team conference lacks in tight geography it makes up for in large TV markets & ease of access. Rename it the Metro Conference if you want - there used to be a conference with that name.  UConn, Rutgers, Syracuse = NY/NJ/CT NYC market.  Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, Tampa, Orlando, Cincinnati & Louisville with a championship game in the new 1.8 billion Jets/Giants stadium in NYC.  That should get some ESPN tv money.

C-USA down 2 schools adds a revitalized Temple program after its MAC short term deal is over - giving them a permanent home.  Temple continues its season kick-off Battle for the Liberty Bell rivalry with cross town Villanova. They add Louisiana Tech as the 12th team and place them in the West division with Tulane.

Losing LA Tech leaves the WAC with 5 teams & kills their chances of continuing to exist.  Hawaii leaves the 4 other schools to become an Independent with help from BYU & the Pac-12.

Back to the Mountain West - Air Force decides to join Navy & Army as Independent because of the conference's instability.  With only 5 original MWC teams left, there's nothing the MWC can offer Air Force can't do on it's own as a federally funded military school. 

MWC sits at 5 original 1998 members - Colorado State, Wyoming, New Mexico, UNLV & San Diego State & 3 new WAC members Boise State, Fresno State & Nevada for 8 teams total. The only thing to do is add the 4 remaining WAC teams Utah State,  San Jose State, New Mexico State & Idaho to become the 9th 12 team conference.

New Mexico State joins the 5 original MWC members in a Mountain (kind of south & east) Division. The other 3 WAC teams join the other 3 WAC teams in a West (north & west) Division.

Now this isn't the shit that Boise State signed up for to advance it's football program.  Now Utah, BYU, TCU or Air Force. They would obviously want to join the Big XII with BYU as their 11th & 12th teams but that could take Boise another decade.  10 years in Big West, 10 in WAC, 10 in MWC & if they're still winning 12-14 games every year, the Big XII would have to take them.

In which case the MWC will have to turn back to that far away island Hawaii as its' 12th team & premier football program.  Might as well change the name back to Western Athletic Conference while they're at it.

After the jump is every conference listed out after this scenario unfolds. 9 12 team conferences, 10 team Sun Belt & 6 Independents for 122 1-A teams. 71 BCS teams with only Boise & BYU left out of the party for now. I ranked the teams 1-122 based on winning percentage for 10 years between 2000 & 2009. Averaged wins are to the right of each team & rank is to the left.