A thought that I haven't seen anyone delve into.
The whole we're going to be left out in the cold argument assumes that 4 super conferences form and we are not in any. There are currently 68 teams in BCS conferences. If those four conferences go to 16 that leaves 4 current BCS teams out in the cold plus TCU. That means that 4 current BCS teams plus TCU (joining BCS conference but currently not in) would have to be short changed. With the amount of uncertainty on which of the 5 teams will be left out there are probably about 10-12 teams who are concerned about their future.
In the hypothetical that these teams want to save themselves they could form their own conference with incredibly high exit fees to ensure stability and prevent the 4 super conferences from slowly killing the 5. They would all be motivated to do this because any one of them could be left out in the cold and the shift to 4 16 team conferences won't happen in 1 day. So, if Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas, Baylor, TCU, Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati, South Florida, and Texas Tech. (Just for the sake of argument on the selections of teams left who don't have an already signaled destination conference). That's just BCS teams shut out, then you go add a couple teams like ECU and maybe a BYU or SMU/Houston. Who it is doesn't matter. It just matters that you have enough clout to prevent the Big 4 conferences from splitting off and claiming a system that can name a true national champ outside of the NCAA.
Any one of those schools is not enough to prevent the super conference from happening. However, all those teams together can not be all shut out. You do that and you have a large enough TV footprint to be a viable conference. You will not be at the level the expanded conferences dollar wise, but you are ensuring a significant enough presence to ensure existence and to warrant a BCS AQ. IF the expanded conferences try to go lock you out of a new playoff system break off from the BCS you have with those 10 teams enough clout politically and from population to either start a major legal headache.
And that is if and only if you believe the media hype that we are headed to the 4 super conferences to set up for a playoff system. There are plenty of ways for ISU and others to have a healthy future IF (and we won't be) we were left without somewhere to land.