BYU has contracted with bowls every year since going independent in 2011. The Cougars also have bowl agreements for 2018 (Poinsettia Bowl) and 2019 (Hawaii Bowl). With every bowl already having an agreement with conferences, BYU is guaranteed a bowl spot this way.
BYU is still without a 2017 partner for its bowl game, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
With the increasing amount of bowl games (there are 40 now), bowls are forced to pick from a handful of 5-7 teams every year; P5 leagues often don’t have enough bowl eligible teams to fill all of their bowl slots.