It takes more than just winning to be a part of the conversation.
Of the schools mentioned, nearly every school is more than twice the size of Marshall. The smallest school, Boise State, has 8,629 more students enrolled than Marshall (1.76 times the size of Marshall).
SDSU 33,778
UNLV 26,360
Memphis 21,736
South Florida 48,732
Boise State 19,898
Colorado State 33,648
Fresno State 24,000
Marshall 11,269
If Marshall wants to be included in these conversations the enrollment has to increase significantly.
The population base (measured by county size) of where the school's main campus is located is also significantly larger than Cabell County.
SDSU 3,262,770
UNLV 2,350,611
Memphis 903,727
South Florida 961,400
Boise State 557,590
Colorado State 373,965
Fresno State 1,018,965
Cabell County, WV 91,679