Perhaps we would've had the depth to overcome those injuries.
But we didn't.
Every team deals with injuries every season. The difference between those who can continue to succeed after injuries and those who can't is depth.
We aren't built to survive injuries at key positions, like top P5 teams or even Utah are, because our recruiting sucks and we don't have good playable depth. Would going to a G5 conference change that? Maybe, maybe not, but it would absolutely give us a better chance to get into multiple NY6 bowls, because when we get banged up, the teams we'd be facing would be on the same level, athletically, which we are. Getting to an NY6 even once could boost our recruiting by giving us a big achievement which would make us more relevant nationally. If we were in a G5 conference, the odds of us getting to an NY6 game would increase dramatically.