leaning into strong regional rivalries. The Sun Belt used to be at the bottom of the all the non power conferences. Other conferences were poaching from them. The Sun Belt was expanding with FCS schools but doing so by adding rivalries that were competitive football programs. It has really worked out for them. They went from being poached to being the poacher. Their conference has good rivalries and is improving every year on the field as well.

If the MWC gets gutted, I think their best course of action would be to follow the Sun Belt's approach and add rivalries from the FCS. A gutted MWC isn't going to be able to poach from another G6 conference other than maybe New Mexico State and UTEP meaning they'll need FCS schools. This is why I would target the Montana schools, the Dakota schools and a couple of other Big Sky schools (since I'm a Weber State grad, I would say them). Those are strong rivalries and bring competitive football.