Indy and G5 both have positives and can be sustainable.

Too many G5s are sustaining and thriving in their own worlds, look no further than Boise, UCF, Houston etc. To say BYU couldn't have sustained success as a G5 is just stupid, they've done it before and teams are doing it now.

Independence on the other hand brings in more revenue than being in a G5 and the schedules are set up better by having on average 2-3 more P5 games each year than BYU would have as a G5. Competitively is hasn't worked out so well for BYU up to this point.

I think Holmoe and BYU are staying independent because Independence is better financially and I think they project that to be an even more important in the future as paying players or increasing stipends etc becomes a thing, along with the cable world changing where BYU may be able to close the revenue gap between them and P5s even more. Not thinking about the future and looking back at the last 7 years, my opinion is that BYU would have been better as a G5 in the MWC or AAC(if AAC is even a possibility).