by who?

Not by the science and research communities, who don't consider US News particularly relevant to anything that they do.

These threads that erupt from time to time are silly.

US News is the most commonly used ranking by parents and would-be undergrads trying to choose a college. That's perfectly appropriate because those are precisely the kinds of metrics that US News focuses on—those that are indicative of the kind of education and experience undergraduate students have at BYU. BYU is a very strong teaching university and y'all should be proud of that.

Go to research tables—degrees offered, research faculty reputation and credentials, publication and citation counts, research dollars received and spent, allied and consortia connections and work—and BYU is virtually invisible (500+ to unranked) while Utah tends to be in the top 50-150 globally, depending on the table.

That doesn't negate BYU's stronger US News (teaching quality and undergrad experience) rankings any more than BYU's US News rankings negate's Utah's much stronger research and postgraduate rankings.

They are two different kinds of institutions with two different kinds of core missions. That's okay, because in our world we need the kids of results that both institutions produce. Neither can replace the other.

Is Tesla better or is Caterpillar better? Sure, they're both vehicles, but it's a silly question without the "for what?" component.

Is IBM Q better or is an iPad Pro better? Sure, they're both computers, but it's a silly question without the "for what?" component.

Same thing here.