We were a serious choice when they were expanding from ten, but two of the university president objected to BYU on ideological grounds; thus, Utah was chosen over BYU. At this time a unanimous supporting vote was required for inclusion. However, these rules have reportedly been changed so that a 75% vote is all that's required. It's not unreasonable to think that because of the strength BYU has as an institution and as a sports program, combined with the fact that due to geography the PAC's options are limited to a) other P5 schools who may or may not be interested or b) schools that are both academically and athletically sub-par, that BYU might be chosen should the PAC expand again.

BYU is also classified as an institution with high research activity, and is ranked ahead of all but 5 PAC schools in the US News national university rankings (Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC, UW, 2015 list) so it's not like we're so bad academically that there's no way the PAC could take us. We don't have a lot of PhD level research and that's a problem for some, but use of this as the main excuse would seem to me like grasping for straws to conceal the real (ideological) reason. Which again, can be overcome (unless the church gets significantly more unpopular before then, which sadly is a real possibility)

The reason why the PAC is completely unrealistic for us at this point in time is that the PAC feels comfortable where they are. They're rolling in money from their new TV contract and are one of the most competitive conference in CFB. They don't need to expand.