former Big East schools. FWIW Marshall joined C-USA after it left the MAC in late 90s/early 00s. I don't think WVU would have been willing to take 1-2 steps back and join C-USA. If you think about it the AAC would be a lateral move from the Big East given how the Big East was the weakest of the 6 BCS conferences (perceptually speaking) and it was destined to lose its power conference status when Miami left for the ACC. Honestly, I am not sure the Big East/AAC would have been able to retain its power conference status at the end of the BCS Era if VT had remained in the conference.