In the Big XII, there are teams like Kansas and Oklahoma State that underperform, but it's not because there isn't talent on the team, but just the wrong mixture of talent, experience and depth.

In the old MWC, there was a great disparity in talent and some programs were just awful.

That's why a 1-3 can play up in a game and defeat a 6-0 team from time to time. The talent gap between the programs isn't large, and sometimes it's at a few key positions, i.e., QB or RB.