Too bad this is not how it works. If it was, Boise State would have conferences beating down the doors for their inclusion.

If BYU was assured a spot in a P5 conference just by winning games, then everyone would be on the "Jarom Jordan" train. But this is not how the system works. And even if BYU went undefeated for the next 10 years in a row, it is relatively unlikely that there would be P5 invite.

So, the options become, play a G5 schedule, win a lot and don't get a P5 invite. Or, play a quasi-P5 schedule, win less, and don't get a P5 invite.

The first option is one that BYU has done back in the 80's/early 90's. It became obvious though, that the system wasn't a meritocracy. BYU managed to sneak out a National Championship under the rules that existed, which promptly caused the powers that be to change the rules to make sure it wouldn't happen again. As a fan in that era, I got tired of the schedule every year that had 2-3 interesting games (usually Utah (even when they sucked), 1 early season P5 (frequently on the road), a handful of games against uninteresting conference opponents like UTEP, UNM and UNLV, and a mid-level bowl game against a generally ok P5-level team.

The second option is to play 5-6 interesting games per year against a variety of P5-level teams, a handful of games against uninteresting teams, and a mid-level bowl game against an ok G5 opponent.

I guess I'm in the "been there, done that" camp with regards to the first model and it became really stale. Always delegated to the kid's table, occasionally had a great year with some discussion. To me, a NY6 game (that is not a playoff game) is just another exhibition game with slightly higher profile, that will be forgotten by most of the college football world a week after it happens.

I personally prefer the second model, which means infrequent "great years", but at least with a shot to be in the conversation if a whole bunch of things were to go right. Maybe I'll tire of that too after a while, but it's just more entertaining to me to have a slew of USC, Stanford, Missouri, Tennessee, etc. on the schedule each year instead of UNM, Wyoming and CSU.