Give it up utesnfries. You gave them facts and they regurgitate irrelevant data and think they have won the argument. Utah 96 recognized NCAA championships as opposed to 9 for BYU, it is not even close.

Academically: In every other ranking besides USNWR the University of Utah is so far ahead of BYU that they aren't even considered peer institutions.

USNWR bases its ranking on th following criteria:
o 5 percent: alumni donations
o 5 percent: graduation rate (for liberal arts and national universities)
o 10 percent: financial aid
o 15 percent: faculty resources (which is a collection of factors like average class size and student-to-teacher ratio)
o 15 percent: acceptance rate
o 20 percent or 25 percent (depending on the school type): student retention
o 25 percent: peer assessment of the performance of other schools, performed by the top three officials of each school

None of that criteria directly addresses the quality of education provided.

In contrast the Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU, the Times Higher Education World Rankings, QS World University Ranking, and the Webometric Rankings are all based on elements that are actually happening at the school. These ranking are all based on academics at the institution and research performed by the institution. The number of Nobel/Field's award winners among the faculty and alumi, the size of the science departments, the amount of highly cited research performed, and the numbers of articles published in peer reviewed journals, are all included in the rankings of ARWU, The Times, QS, and Webometrics. FARMS doesn't produce a valid peer reviewed journal, or BYU would be much higher ranked.

ARWU - Utah is ranked 82nd; BYU is in the group 303 to 400, at that level they don't differentiate they all equally suck.
The Times - Utah 134; BYU 501-600
QS - Utah 256; BYU unranked
Webometrics - Utah 25th; BYU 155th

The real reason that the presidents of the PAC 10 did not want to associate with BYU is because BYU is one of the few major universities in the US to be cited for a lack of academic freedom. The American Association of University Professors has claimed that at BYU the "infringements on academic freedom are distressingly common and that the climate for academic freedom is distressingly poor." No university president wants to be associated with an institution that censors education.

BYU maybe good at what it does but is not on the level of any PAC12 university, not ASU not WSU, and certainly not the U of U.