I know I'm an outlier, but it feels like a great move for C-USA would be to get commitment from its current members, announce a big push to increase athletic budgets and fan marketing, and add Appy State and Louisiana from the SBC. It would be worth paying those two their income loss from the current ESPN contract and bet on C-USA being the #2 G5 conference within 5 years. This includes my forecast that Memphis and perhaps Temple will be the next move of Big 12 to 14 teams in 2025.
A C-USA with adding Louisiana to the west and Appy State to the east would be dinomite IMHO.
We should be adding by adding, not risking adding by subtracting two good programs in UAB and someone from Texas (either UTSA, Rice, probably not UNT because I don't thing SMU would ever allow that).