A few things:

1.) I actually have no opinions about the school itself. I don't know if it's terrible or good or what. Other than the location, it's irrelevant to the point I'm making.
2.) The point? As a high school senior, my perception was this: BYU or bust. Literally all of my friends were headed to BYU. None to BYU-I. It was easier to get in back then than now, but that's the scenario I found myself in. I don't make friends very easily, if at all. Having my friends there was a huge benefit to me.
2.5.) If there were another BYU in California, a good chunk of my friends would have gone to it. The other chunk would have gone to BYU. Either place would have had some of my friends.
3.) How you view BYU-I depends. For most people around where I live, it's the backup BYU. If you're from Idaho, your perception is probably different. Great. I don't have a problem with that.
4.) The same perception I described in "2.)" is not uncommon.