My Proposal

If the Pac 10 manages to get 5 more teams from the Big XII (Colorado is officially gone), here is my proposal for what Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Baylor (and possibly Missouri):

1) Vote as a block to keep the Big XII alive.  It takes 9 votes to dissolve the conference.  If the conference dissolves, the dissenters do not need to pay the penalty for leaving (around $9 Million per school).  8 (or maybe only 7) schools have to pay $60-70 Million in aggregate to the conference for leaving.  That's a nice little trophy for their loyalty, i.e. they don't get as screwed as they thought.

2) Do not join another conference, instead, invite the best available surrounding teams.  If you go to the MWC you are stuck with SDSU, UNLV, New Mexico, Wyoming, and CSU.  Instead, invite the best MWC teams to join you: BYU, Utah, Air Force, and TCU.  That's a pretty solid 8-team football league.  Hoops isn't bad either (mostly thanks to Kansas, Kansas State, and Baylor).  If you want to take it a step further, grab the two most westerly Big East teams (assuming the Big East gets raided by the Big Ten and that conference's teams are looking for a place to land) Louisville and Cincinnati.  They have average to decent football teams and both have very good basketball teams.  If 12 is a magical number, add Houston and either Tulsa, SMU, Boise State (or you have Missouri if they didn't get an invitation to the Big Ten party).

Why?  Keep your BCS status.  Keep your TV contracts, i.e. don't have to get the Mtn./raw deal.  Maintain your presence in the Midwest, Denver, and Texas.  Add the Salt Lake, Cincinnati, and Louisville markets.  Keep the Big XII championship game.  BYU and Air Force have decent-sized national followings because of their religion and cadets, respectively.  Utah also a sizable national following with their multiple BCS (and the first ever BCS) runs.  Louisville and Cincinnati are nationally known.  Houston and TCU have very respected histories and are certainly football programs on the rise/at the top in TCU's case.

I see it like this: it's better than where any of these teams will end up if they are not careful.  It's better than the MWC, it's better than C-USA, and it's better than where the BCS teams will end up when their leagues disappear.  Someone please point out the flaws?  No, seriously, do point them out because I want to know what I'm missing.

Heck, if you want to be like everyone else and go to 16, add: the remaining two of Tulsa/SMU/Boise State, plus New Mexico and CSU (or maybe Louisiana Tech/UTEP/Rice/UNLV).  That secures the Denver area for the conference, adds another viable football (Boise State) and hoops (New Mexico or even UNLV) program, and gives you all of New Mexico's televisions (what better do they have to do there than watch Alford cuss out college kids on their senior night?).