I've been around for a long time and saw similar things in the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's with BYU. They're not part of the club and the powers that be aren't going to let them in without a reason that is beyond reproach. No one can argue that BYU's schedule is bad this year. Not their fault, but it is. That's all the justification they need. And the exact same justification that they used in 1984 (although they didn't have control of it then, it was entirely based on polls which have always been a little friendlier to BYU), they used it in 1996 to keep BYU out of the Fiesta Bowl, they used it in 2001 basically giving BYU the finger when we were still undefeated and headed to Mississippi to face an SEC team, and they're doing it again now.

It's frustrating and it's not fair, but that's how the system works. I highly doubt they even discussed whether BYU was going to play WA or not.