average for BYU and average for the rest of college football are two very different horses.

I do agree that the potential to be better was there and there were some things missing at the top (better coaching and managing of the situation). There was also some things really lacking at the point of attack (QB and OL play). The offense wasn't very disciplined and didn't play very efficiently. The lack of consistency is probably what hurt. Most of the teams you listed have identities offensively that they adhere to even in a down year. BYU's offense under Riley was sort of a hot mess at times and pretty good at other times. That can average out to make an offense look better than it really was.

Also when you look at the defenses BYU played against, they had 5 opponents who finished in the top 25 for scoring defense, including 3 inside the top 10 (Notre Dame, Utah St and Boise St). By the same respect Utah only faced 3 in the top 25 (one courtesy of BYU).

When you look at what really matters (points) then BYU slipped a bit from 60th in total offense (yards) to 66th in scoring. Utah climbed from the 100's in total offense to 75th in scoring. One could also probably draw similar conclusions with Utah that you inferred about BYU. Shouldn't they have done better than nearly last in the Pac12 with an overall losing record? Shouldn't their defense have been better with a likely top 5 NFL draft pick anchoring the DL like Star Lotulelei? With so many Pac12 defenses ranking in the bottom half of the country and with a super easy conference schedule (Utah's offense only faced one Pac12 defense that finished the season ranked in the top 35 for scoring defense and their defense only faced 3 conference opponents with offenses ranked in the top 35 in scoring offense)?

So what happened with Utah? Is it all BJ's fault? Or Kyle's fault for being so ignorant as to think a 25 yr old with no experience would be good enough to compete in the Pac12? Didn't he make the same mistakes thinking a banged up and fragile Jordan Wynn with a bunch of freshman & a D2 backup would be good enough to make it through not one but 2 Pac 12 conference grinds? What's the old saying, "if at first you don't succeed, keep trying until you get fired?" Utah's defense finished 49th in scoring defense. What's happened there? Do you blame it all on Kalani Sitake (even though Kyle hired him) when everyone knows he's just Kyle's puppet with the defense?

There's a lot of that to go around. BYU did lose some very close games to some good opponents and by the same right if they'd maintained that same level of play offensively very likely would've lost to the other teams you listed as well. But at the same time the only game that BYU got blown out in was top 25 Oregon St and that was a 3 or 4 point game in the 4th quarter until Riley started the interception parade.

All the other games BYU was in it right down to the end despite (in many games) Riley staking the opposing team to leads with pick 6's or fumbles returned for TD's. That particular part is an easy fix. He won't be back next year but the damage was done for this year. A little cleaner play and BYU wins all but the Oregon St game and could likely say the same about the other teams you listed.