BYU should be in a power conference. There is no good argument that can be made to keep us out when you look at the data of BYU v. other programs.

And yet here we are. Not in a power conference. Clearly the data are not what matters. It this was a data driven decision, it would have been made long ago in BYU's favor.

The reality is that what we call "religious bigotry" is keeping us out. You know it and I know it and they know it. Your data won't sway them.

For so long as Elder Bednar claims there are no Mormon homosexuals, for so long as Elder Oaks says we don't ever give apologies, for so long as we want to break up same sex-headed families, for so long as we have secret ceremonies with secret handshakes and secret underwear--for so long as we are so out of step with the world we will be rejected by the world.

Trying to gain inclusion into the most worldly of all groups--college football conferences--while insisting that we remain aloof and apart from the world, is a fool's errand. It won't work. And every year that passes the divide grows larger between us and them.

If there was a place for us at the table, we would be in the PAC 12 right now. There isn't. We should get used to that reality and accept it and move on. Either make independence work or drop football at the BYU. With concussions maiming so many student-athletes in this barbaric sport, BYU will eventually drop the program anyway. We should just rip off the band-aide and get it over with. Another step backwards into our righteous isolation. They were never going to accept us anyway.