A lot of the anti-Big XII sentiment here reads a lot like the faculties objections to a UConn upgrade back in the mid-90s. The faculties concerns were, what about academics, it feels like we're too focused on sports, resenting the focus and more specifically the money spent on athletics (Basketball) wasn't being spent on academics. Of course they were also failing to recognize that, that success was leading to record applicants and boosting the quality of the student population.
Now it's the Big East nostalgists concerned that there's too much focus on football and resenting that dollars spent on football aren't being spent on basketball.... failing to recognize that football's existence and more success there will lead to record revenues and boost the ability to continue to pay the best coaches in the nation on the basketball side or to maximize revenue sharing with the players to continue to attract top talent.
The faculty sentiment helped slow things down, ultimately contributing to UConn having less time to build a track record in football (and potentially contributing to the current situation)... the basketball sentiment and high profile naysayers (i.e. the state speaker of the house, the US senators) may ultimately slow/untrack (or at least provide an excuse that UConn doesn't have the support necessary) a potential move here...