How much longer will West Virginia be an outlier Big 12 member?

Conference realignment has been a great thing for the vast majority of the old Big East and legitimate Mountain West schools. Utah and TCU are a great fit for the Pac 12 and Big 12. BYU is better off now as an independent playing a solid schedule than before in the MWC. Miami, Va Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, and Louisville all have a great situation in the ACC. UConn is going back to the Big East and forgetting football (smart move). USF and Cincinnati are the only ones left without a major conference but those two schools were never really major conference schools to begin with.

And then there is West Virginia which lost more than anyone. They retain their major conference status but in the most unstable conference with absolutely no historic or geographic ties to anyone in the Big 12. It's by far the oddest situation in college football and equally embarrassing for WVU and the Big 12. It was a last minute desperation move by both parties. Neither wanted each other but both had to have each other to survive.

Does WVU have any other options in the future? Athletically they absolutely deserve to be a sought after school. They are a very solid football and basketball school with a passionate and loyal fan base. Geographically they are a perfect fit for the Big Ten and ACC and, to a lesser extent, even the SEC. The biggest negatives they have are a small media market (no major cities in a state with 1.8 million - although they do dominate the state's market), not a prestigious academic school, and a general perception that their fans are too rowdy and unsophisticated.

I see 4 potential options for them long term:

1. Big Ten. Very unlikely due to the B10's snobby academic and cultural elitism. Nebraska lost AAU membership so AAU status isn't a complete deal breaker for the B10 anymore. Might be an option if the B10 wanted to expand to 16 or if Maryland or Nebraska decide to return to their former conferences after realizing they aren't doing any better in the B10.

2. ACC. The same cultural and academic snobbery applies to them, although to a lesser extent than the B10. WVU would need the SEC or B10 to poach an ACC school for them to have a shot to go this route. The SEC and Big Ten would love to add a NC and VA school.

3. SEC. I just don't see it. West Virginia borders Kentucky, but the campus is pretty darn far from the vast majority of the SEC schools. I don't see the SEC expanding to take WVU unless it was the only way to add VaTech. A more likely scenario would be for the Big Ten to steal Mizzou (which I still think is quite possible).

4. A revamped Big 12 that expands to the East. I think the most likely option is the Big 12 convinces Texas and OU to stay (mostly due to the state legislatures refusing to allow the Big 12 to collapse and leave Ok St, Baylor, TCU, and Texas Tech without a power conference home. The Big 12 adds Cincinnati, Memphis, ECU and UCF to give WVU some semblance of belonging and geographic rivals.