that doesn't include either G5 or P5. We don't enjoy membership in a P5 conference, and we don't enjoy all of the benefits enjoyed by those in P5 conferences. But we also sure don't belong to the G5 class, either. We're not technically G5, and beyond that we dwarf every G5 program in revenue, facilities, strength of schedule, fan base, TV viewership, etc. If we had joined the Big12, we would have instantly become that conference's 4th strongest program when you look at those listed factors. If we magically joined the Pac12, we'd be in the top third in attendance based on our current numbers (ignoring any effect P5 membership would have on attendance).

I'm not claiming that we're an actual P5 program, because we clearly don't fit the definition. But our profile matches up far better with P5 programs than it does with G5. We'd be a middle of the pack P5 program, but we'd easily be the biggest G5. So why the strong urge to declare ourselves G5?

Even the national football media generally (but not always) lumps us in with the P5 crowd whenever they have cause to partition college football programs for whatever reason. Occasionally you see a "P5/non-P5" split in which they'll include BYU, rightfully, as "non-P5." Usually, however, it's a G5/P5 partition, with BYU lumped in with P5. Normally, of course, there's no need to refer to any such partitioning, and they simply refer to us as "independent." They don't say G5. They don't say P5. It's just Independent. There are small independents, and there are big independents. Anybody that thinks we're viewed on the same level as Army or UMass because we share the independent label has lost it completely.

This doesn't really mean much at all, of course, but it does indicate a bit that it's really just a segment of our own fan base that seems to be desperate to assign us the label of "little guy." Nobody else, save UofU fans, are out there clamoring for BYU to be labeled G5. It's bizarre to me why one would want our program to be labelled in this manner.