Joining the conference has been an incredible boon to the entire athletic program. You look at this through the lens of football only. The decision had far less to do with football than finding a conference from which to build a sports brand beyond football - using football and the incredible brand already created to leverage a home for all other programs. Why care so much about not getting in a better but still meaningless bowl?
The overall brand is much better now than it was and the deal was made at a critical juncture in conference alignments - the overall brand is so much stronger now than before