Because let's face it -- people with those kinds of expectations prior to the season probably had more than just blue kool-aid in their half-full glasses.
Ever since this schedule came together it's looked like a 7- or 8-win schedule. This is not the Western Athletic Conference of the 1980s or the Mountain West Conference of the late 2000s. This is a legit power-conference-esque schedule in which getting to 9-10 wins is extremely difficult given the caliber of teams we play, the number of difficult road games, and the fact that we have to take on the better teams earlier in the season.
Yeah, it sucks to lose but I'd rather lose the way we've been losing -- close games in which our players and coaches are going for the win rather than being overly conservative -- than lose by mentally and physically checking out of games, which has happened to BYU teams in the past.