SMU's vision is simply just having a seat at the table and the long game. The ACC is likely to be in a dilemma in a few years as it appears a lot of those big players are wanting to bolt for the SEC and when that happens the Big Ten probably starts to look at adding to their conference. I'm guessing the thought SMU has is they don't care that the conference could very well implode, but if it does, they'll be part of that group that will still have the chance to still be in a power conference i.e. shifting to the Big 12 etc because they're already there.
Even with all these conferences imploding I don't think this movement is ever going to stop. There's too much interest, popularity and money in the sport that it wouldn't surprise me if there's some form of relegation type system like there is in European soccer. For now though SMU has a lot to sell because they have money and tons of it. I wish we were in that position because there's no telling how that has hamstrung our program because we didn't have money to pay coaches, or buy out underperforming ones sooner etc.
Ultimately, NT has to win consistently in football and sprinkle in a few seasons where they're winning big and get ranked. Can you imagine if we were getting ranked and winning big what kind of buzz there would be? We just have to get to that position and we have to control our own destiny and not fall back on the school size, location, potential nonsense that masks poor results on teh field because none of that has really mattered for us and we don't have the money the SMU's of the world has.