Stanford didn't choose to show recruits future earnings to try to convince them that they'd get a better education at Stanford. They showed them that to try to convince them they'd make more money.

And I do think BYU is a solid academic institution. But they're also an outlier in a lot of ways, with a strong focus on undergraduate education and less on graduate research. I don't mind that at all and frankly I think that's how most schools should be. But my opinion isn't the one that matters - the PAC12 values graduate research.

to answer your questions,

1- How would you define and measure the academic standards of a University
2- Do you believe BYU's academic standards would be closer to an Institute like Air Force or the other Pac 12 schools?

1) I would personally put more emphasis on undergraduate education. But the PAC 12 is more likely to be using something like http://nturanking.csti.tw/ where BYU ranks 601-650.

PAC 12 schools rank:
2. Stanford
8. Washington
12. UCLA
16. Cal
84. USC
91. Colorado
106. Arizona
112. Utah
187. Arizona State
321. Oregon St
337. Washington St
381. Oregon (though Oregon Health&Science University [formerly Oregon Med School] is #158)

If we give Oregon credit for their med school that just split off into its own University, that means only Oregon State and Washington St are outside the top 187. And they were both pretty clearly dragged in by their higher-performing counterpart.

2) Yes, in a lot of ways I do think BYU's academic standards are more similar to the Air Force Academy. The Air Force Academy is in many ways an exaggeration (academically speaking) of BYU. Considered more difficult for admission, with higher test score averages, and generally considered to have a slightly stronger academic profile, but with even less (i.e. none) emphasis on graduate research. There's definitely some similarities in approach, even if USAFA is a more extreme example.