I still think BYU tops the other two. I believe Utah has spring-boarded two amazing years in football into a PAC invite. Don't get me wrong, Utah has owned BYU the last three years in football. But the invite was before the tide had tipped, so we throw out recent whippings.
I simply believe looking objectively at the three schools, and just look at athletices and exposure (football and others, but heavy into football) the ranking of desirability would be BYU, then Utah, and last CO. And objectively, I don't think it would be that close
Regarding research, I agree BYU is not a top reseach school. I would have to look at how the classifications and criteria were put together. UC San Diego # 5, Case Western #23, CSU #45? Academic standards I believe are as good or better.