im not sure if temple really brings anything to the table, FB or BB.
Split may not even happen. When BC, VATECH AND MIAMI left for the acc the BE was left with 5 FB members and 6 BB members. They had the opportunity to part ways then. However the BE name, history etc would go with the majority(the 6 BB schools) The FB could either 1. form a new conference, lose their bcs status. 2. DISBAND and join other coferences,(either individually or as a group)3. Try to keep BE intact and work witht the BBfor the benefit of all
THE FB schools needed BB members more than BB needed FB. The most likely scenario would have been a merge with CUSA with depaul, marquette,charlotte and st louis going BE and the fromer BE FB going to cusa(or syracuse,pitt OR rutgers going independent hopeing to be picked up by the B10)
By forming a 16 team conference the BE has created 2 strong 'divisions" that could survive on their own if the 16 team model failed. It hasn't. That moved kept eastern FB alive