Here's a thought exercise: There is a legitimate argument to be made that 1st in the MAC is pretty nice place to be, and here's why:
Right now, NDSU would be favored to go undefeated in the MAC. You get 1 FCS opponent (win) maybe a G5 game- AAC or MWC or whatever (likely win) and 1 P5 Game (Pitt, Virginia, Iowa State, OkState, Baylor etc) which is a coin flip game. Honestly a great shot of going either undefeated or 1 loss.
As undesirable as many would perceive the regular season to be in the MAC - which as bad as it would be, it is still better than MVFC schedule from a competition standpoint (Average team is nearly 35 places higher than MVFC, (96 vs 130) plus you would get another G5 game and a P5 game), The probability of going undefeated in the MAC is pretty damn high. NDSU stacks 1-3 good seasons of zero or one loss years in a row, in the MAC, they would have an actual real life shot at the CURRENT CFP. Of course, When the CFP expands, and it will, that chance grows, by alot.
Point is this- MAC is not desirable in comparison to MWC in my opinion in terms of the programs, fan bases, and quality of football. However, if anyone believes that the FBS could be good for NDSU, there's an argument to be made that the MAC may offer an quicker path to consistent competitive domination which means a quicker path to NY6 bowl games and even the Playoff than the MWC.