Playing with the rankings and their numbers make some things clear. I think SMU is going to the ACC. Without them the American Conference has 45 Tulane and 51 Memphis, and 73 UTSA ranked below 80. Then they drop quickly to 4 in the 80 and 90's. But there are 6 in the over 100 group. The MWC has 62 Fresno, 67 Boise, 74 AFA, 75 Wyoming, and 79 SJST. The MWC also has 6 teams above the 100 line. The MAChas 61 Toledo, 3 teams in the 80 and 90's, and 9 teams above 100. The Sun Belt has 55 Coastal Carolina, 63 Marshall, 70 South Alabama, and 76 App St. They have 6 in the 80 and 90's and 4 above 100.
Take 62 Fresno, 67 Boise, 74 AFA, 75 Wyoming, 79 SJST, from the MWC, 72 Liberty from CUSA, 45 Tulane, 51 Memphis, 73 UTSA, from American, 61 Toledo from the MAC, 55 Coastal Carolina, 63 Marshall, 70 S Alabama and 76 App State from the Sun Belt.
45, 51, 55, 61, 62, 63, 67, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 79. !4 teams. Coast to Coast. from 45 to under 80. They would drop 31 anchors from 5 conferences, or an average of 6 anchors from each conferences from dragging them down.
Btw, there are another 15 teams in the 80-90 range that could get rid of a lot of deadwood. That is two whole conferences that could upgrade themselves. The other 31teams of over 100 rpi's could form two more conferences.
I don't know what kind of shape it all is in, but you know that the winners always want to move up. You know that things are far from settled. And you know that we are doing our best to fall further. With a chance to move up, we have found a way to move down. We are an anchor football program. Yah. There's the ticket. UTEP, a Tier 1 Football anchor program.
