The talent gap is widening. I'm not sure what measure indicates any other conclusion. Recruiting rankings, h2h wins, top 25 wins, and top 25 finishes counter your assertion.

The only position where Utah might see a noticeable decline is RB. Overall production will be comparable but we'll miss the chunk yardage plays Joe Williams produced. BYU caught Utah last year when Joe was useless. O-line had turnover but there's probably 4 NFL players among the starters.

The Utah D-Line brings back 3 of 4 starters from last year, all seniors. There won't be a decline in the defensive trenches and 2 Sr LBs come back as well. Utah lost talent, but they replaced most of the departed players with 4* talent.

There's questionable calls every game and a similar analysis from the Utah side would come up with calls that could've been more favorable to Utah as well.

I think BYU has improved in the trenches, Utah will still have an advantage there, but not as great as years past. I think Utah's talent advantage in the WR/CB battle will be the difference this year and I don't expect the game to be as close as it has been recently. I don't think it will be a blow out, but BYU's questions at WR and RB combined with Utah having at least decent play calling will be big factors.