...having lived in Baltimore, Phoenix, Charlotte, San Diego, and San Francisco any college football fan I have encountered is well aware of BYU and what the team has done in the past. A decent comparable is Boise State. Nobody thinks Boise State is Ohio State, but everyone knows what Boise State has done. So too, anybody who cares about college football knows what BYU has done. 

A Notre Dame grad in Phoenix (2002-2004) would always come and talk to me about what BYU did the previous week. He was always interested and would give me crap that we need to break out of hanging with the "mid majors". 

My guess is the OP is a millienial who is only vaguely aware of anything other than what's fed to him by his social feeds.

It's probably a true statement that we're not very relevant outside of Utah in the eyes of millenials. The last time we had a notable season was 1996. 2001 and some other years came close, but none since 1996 has made any real national noise.