BYU suffers from delusions of Grandeur and an inferiority complex. At best their Football team is a good mid-major program. If they played top quality competition they would most likely not have a winning record. In decades past - under LaVell Edwards(an excellent coach who would have won anywhere) and his support staff BYU had a major losing record against teams ranked in the top 10 at the time of the competition. Memory gets shaky but something like 2-13 or so against them. An occasional big win - as Boise State against Oklahoma - but no ability to do it week in and week out.
Becoming an independent and believing they are Notre Dame of the West is foolish. Then again, when has Mormonism & its people not been found fooling themselves.
Add in some of the rudest fans around and you have a team that deserves little respect. They travel well with fans that can fill bowl game stadiums - a big consideration when they are being looked at for these games. They sell tickets and bring in money and that is the bottom line.