It's a convenient excuse.

If you look at the movement of most of the P5 conferences, it's definitely towards scheduling cupcakes at the beginning of the season because, with only 4 teams going to the playoffs, any loss in non-conference play could leave them outside looking in. They have enough good teams in their conference that if they win there, they're in.

BYU is not a cupcake, and they can't afford to take the risk of being beat in non-conference play. This is the real reason.

Ironically enough, it's the Pac-12 that seems willing to play tough non-conference games, and this approach has benefitted them already and will benefit them--as long as they win.

And relatedly, these first few weeks of CFB has been the worst in a long time. The number of lopsided games has been a ton this year--and it's been real annoying and boring.