I agree that Baylor, K State and Iowa State (Iowa id B1G 10 and going nowhere) are not going to save any conference. They are fodder/filler. I would prefer UCF or Houston (based on potential) before the the Big 12 leftovers.
Great, then the Big East would have the distinction of not only being the sole BCS conference with a directional school, but would have two directional schools. That being said, I agree with Baylor. I do not think a small private school in Waco brings anything to the table for the BE. I would be more interested in Iowas State and Kansas State (as well as Missouri and Kansas if available). They come from a BCS conference, so should have a higher Q rating than schools, not named TCU and Boise State, in a mid-major conference . People have probably even watched a game in which they played. Granted, it may have been to watch Oklahoma or Texas, but they did watch.
Much has been made in this forum about the markets in which the BE has schools. Admittedly, I do not know anything about advertising or how media outlets value content, but I am not sure whether bringing in Houston and/or Orlando markets matters to ESPN, Fox, etc. Rutgers, SU, UConn were discussed as potential B1G targets because of the number of televisions in the markets/states the schools were located for one reason: the B1G wanted to force the cable television companies to place the BTN on the first tier of channels and receive a higher payment per television. This increase would occur, therefore, regardless of whether any of these channels were actually tuned to the BTN.
As Fox, ESPN, NBC are largely already on the first tier for cable providers, adding markets does not automatically increase revenues. Instead, these networks revenue is based on advertising. If everyone in Houston is watching Texas A&M or Texas and everyone in Orlando is watching UF and FSU, the network cannot demand a higher advertising rate because it is showing a Houston or UCF game. So, the BE would be better off adding known teams that create interest as opposed to markets. Do I think KSU and ISU create a lot of interest, probably not, but I do think they create more interest than Houston and UCF. . . . and yes, I do realize this analysis makes no sense when considering B1G's addition of Nebraska last year.