RE: What if the Big West would have taken advantage of the MWC leaving the WAC?
There would still be another FBS league in the southeast, as schools like FIU and Troy aren't moving up to join the Big West. Even if the remnant WAC schools could pull from C-USA, which in my opinion would have been highly unlikely, it does nothing to prevent the Big East from raiding C-USA for schools like Louisville and Cincinnati.
My guess is that this is what it would have looked like in 2000-01:
Big West
Football (9) - Hawaii, SJSU, Fresno State, Boise State, Idaho, Nevada, Utah State, NMSU, North Texas
Non-football (6) - UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Cal Poly, Long Beach State, Fullerton State, Pacific
Football only: Arkansas State
Conference USA
West - TCU, UTEP, Tulsa, Rice, Houston, SMU
East - USF, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, USM, Tulane
Non-football - Saint Louis, DePaul, Charlotte, Marquette, UAB
Sun Belt
All sports (no change) - South Alabama, Louisiana, Lousiana Tech, Arkansas State, FIU, WKU, Denver, New Orleans, UALR
The WAC is dead as it fell below six members, costing it the autobid in basketball (the "6/5 rule").
Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and Arkansas State continue to play football in the Big West. Middle Tennessee joins the Sun Belt. Eventually FAU and Troy join, FIU moves to I-A, and the Sun Belt is at eight for football for the 2005 season.
Of course C-USA gets raided by the Big East, so it loses Louisville, Cincinnati, USF, DePaul, and Marquette. It also loses TCU to the Mountain West. None of its three additions (UCF, Marshall, East Carolina, UAB football) impact the Sun Belt.
In 2011, Utah and BYU leave the Mountain West, and the Mountain West adds Boise State. TCU heads to the Big East-wait we mean the Big 12 the next year, and then the Mountain West adds five of the seven remaining Big West football schools. New Mexico State joins the Sun Belt for football only, which adds Texas State and UTSA for all sports (Texas-Arlington never left the Southland).
It's possible the Big West might have coaxed a school like Montana or Sacramento State out of FCS (not to mention UC Davis or Cal Poly), but in all likelihood Big West football would hve met the same fate as WAC football.
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