This move is upper MW teams separating from the bottom half. If you look at Football Conference Champions since 2012 (TCU won in 2011), every single Championship except for the 2020 covid season was won by one of the 5 departing schools. If you look at Men's Basketball, Nevada is the only other team outside of the defectors to win a conference Championship dating back to 2016. The new Pac-12 may not look that different from the old MW but it's definitely a massive step up from what the MW is about to be.