http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaaf/writer/dennis-dodd/25579604/the-eight-best-candidates-to-join-the-big-12-if-the-league-expands

4. BYU: The Cougars are absolutely the best football option.

The school invests in football at a Power Five level. It has great tradition and a massive following. There is sticky issue here: BYU would be the third private religious flagship school in the conference.

That would be a quarter of the league possibly voting as a block. It doesn’t seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but the three schools could unite over some moral issue.

Talk to administrators and dealing with a private school is just … different. BYU is extremely different. The Cougars don’t play contests on Sunday although I’m told that wouldn’t be an issue if the Big 12 called. Neither is the conference’s world-wide network a problem. BYU would cede the one game a year shown on its network to the Big 12 inventory.

But there is a reason BYU is playing independent. It believed it could be a Notre Dame Jr. It thought its brand was better than mere mortals in those … conferences.

Now BYU is admitting it was wrong. That is if you believe BYU administration desperately wants into a Power Five conference.

The Cougars may have to settle for the Mountain West. I believe when the Big 12 presidents sit down to vote, they’ll take all that into account.

The answer will be no on BYU.