Unfortunately for the Vandals and Aggies they are victims of realignment that have been tossed by the way side for more successful programs in better media markets. Both of these schools struggle meeting the NCAA's attendance requirements (which it has been lax in enforcing) and New Mexico St has been particularly pitiful on the gridiron lately. Life as an FBS independent is rough. No one is going to want to come to Las Cruces or Moscow for home-and-homes. Did I mention that the Vandals play in an indoor arena that only seats 16,000 and that they only qualified for FBS by playing nearby Washington St at their place and designating the game an Idaho home game? They will have to rely on rent-a-victim games against the nation's top teams to fill their schedules. Furthermore every AD in the country knows that these schools are desperate for games and the price that they get for coming into a giant stadium and losing will be less than what they can expect now. This would be detrimental for all of the lower-tier FBS schools as the price for these games will drop for them to because a Texas, Michigan, or Georgia could simply tell UAB, Wyoming, or Toledo that if they don't want to pay what they are willing to give them they will just schedule Idaho or NMSU for appreciably less.
For Idaho going to the Big Sky makes perfect sense geographically and they could restore old rivalries with the Montana schools and Idaho St. New Mexico St could look at the Big Sky as well but I think that the Southland would be a better option (and they have a slot open and would love having a football school). The Aggies would be able to heavily recruit Texas and could be a dominant force in that FCS conference.
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