Do you not remember them being ranked #3 like 5 weeks into the season?

Utah will win the Pac 12, be in the playoff, and win the national championship with an undefeated season

And, on a practical note, their team is really not much worse than USC. They compete for the Pac12 south every year (they haven't won it yet, thank goodness, but they aren't far behind the perennially disappointing USC)

And BYU would be snubbed for the playoff, UCF never had a shot. That's a very practical difference. 

You really have no argument here