I'm sorry, someone is going to have to explain to me why I'm getting dumbed out of the building here...
Cincinnati -- Former "power conference" member of the Big East. Expand east and give WVU a natural conference rival.
Houston and SMU --- Former "power conference" members of the SWC, natural fit.
BYU -- never in a "power conference" per se, but hold more clout as an Independent than as an AAC/Mtn West conference team, large fan base too.
Honorable mention for Rice, also as a former member of the SWC. We already have TCU and Baylor, and in this hypothetical we'd have BYU. Might as well add another Christian school to the mix and you could add them over Cincinnati since everyone is weird about "city" colleges being in a power conference.
This solution makes sense if we're adding teams. No directional schools (which I agree with) and only 1 or 2 at most, city colleges, which I'm sorry, I don't understand why that's weird.