I think you're dwelling on the past too much and don't at potential in the future. The Texas A&M Aggies have not won a national championship in football since what, 1939? Their only title.
I'm not referring to potential or anything. I'm referring to perception and current level of competitiveness. If Louisville leaves, Boise State isn't coming (especially if both Louisville and West Virginia leave), similarly as more teams leave Navy's interest decreases, as Navy's interest decreases and without Boise State, I think you find it hard to convince Air Force to leave the Mountain West for all sports for a conference that is loosely its equivalent across the country for one sport.
Lets look at the potential conference:
Houston
SMU
Cincinnati
USF
UCF
Rutgers
Connecticut
West Virginia - if gone Temple
Lets look at TV revenue. Which of these teams really commands the markets they bring? SMU and Houston are at best the 5th and 7th (and more likely 6th and 7th) most important teams in Texas. USF and UCF are 4th and 5th in Florida. Cincinnati #2 in Ohio. Only Rutgers, Connecticut and West Virginia can actually lay claim to "delivering" their markets (and Rutgers claim to delivering the New York market is dubious). Now who else are you going to add that would increase value? Memphis (Tennessee #3 team)? Temple (Pennsylvania's #3 team)? East Carolina (NC's #5 team)? Upgrade a team? The money's not there.
Perception-wise look at the schools... 5 of the 8 are either currently in C-USA or are C-USA refugees. Only West Virginia on that list is a team you look at and feel they are a legitimate threat against the upper echelon programs nationally. (That isn't to say you can't have an upset) Looking at the perception, and frankly the results even when Cincinnati was a second away from the national title game, no one thought they would threaten the SEC's second best team in the bowl game and Florida proved the point (just as Alabama would have done).
Remember potential means you haven't done anything yet..... I'm a UConn fan and will root for the team in whatever league its in; but lets not be naive. Adding a bunch of C-USA schools and calling it the Big East does not make it the Big East. Frankly if UConn has to be in a C-USA level league, I'd just assume be in C-USA and have it run by a conference whose commissioner and membership all have football programs and recognize the primacy of football in the current collegiate athletics landscape.