one year removed from being in the MWC and their talent not changed. The losses since then have all been by a single score or less, often in matters of total luck. The losses clearly don't have anything to do with BYU being independent.
When I ask what your question about a championship means I'm asking what it sounds like - what does it mean?
No, we didn't "build our entire brand on WAC titles" - no one gave a rat's tookus about the WAC titles, they cared about the national campaigns that vaulted us into the top 10 in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983 and then the natty. The "WAC titles" were decorations.