A thing I noticed about Cincinnati when they joined the Big East way back us they got better, quickly. I think going from G5 to P5 enhances recruiting, immediately. Players who would have gone to Miami/Akron/Kent/Ohio now had a good reason to go to UC.
Utah may have done the same kind of thing. I THINK if you bump say San Diego State to a "P5" they COULD get better quickly and be competitive. So, adding teams like Memphis/Houston/Cincy could be a good thing in a few years, e.g., some of them would turn into Utah or Cincy.
(Cincy of course did well with Fickell, their trajectory now is less clear to me.)