He is LDS and BYU alumn and Whit doesn't really blow out too many teams. So there is that, he also told the team before last years game we want to get out of this game with no injuries and then focus all out attention to winning the championship game and going to the rose bowl way better than beating BYU. All Whit wants to do is win he does not care by how many just that they win their games. 

You probably didn't watch too many Utah games last year like I did having student tickets. But didn't you find it odd that Utah played mainly zone against BYU in the 1st half? They did not blitz Wilson or have a spy on Wilson at all. Because Utah was in Zone it allowed Wilson the opportunity to run the ball more effectively against Utah. When Utah blitzed BYU Wilson threw the pick 6, he was sacked 3 times and BYU was forced to punt the ball to Utah.

When Utah was playing offense in the 1st half they asked Shelley not to run the ball but to become a drop back passer which he is not. He is a better runner than passer at this time of his career. But they asked him to do the same the following week against UW. When he passed against UW he had the game-winning pick 6 for UW. 

When Shelley in the last quarter of play was allowed to run the spread and not being forced to practice throwing the ball and standing in the pocket. BYU's defense could not contain Shelley or Utah. Hence the largest comeback in the history of the games series. 

It's just like the last scoring play for Utah. Kaufusi came around the edge, Shelley facked the handoff to their RB. Kaufusi chased the RB and Shelley ran 35 yards for the final score Utah 35 BYU 27. So they went back to Shelley strengths and they made BYU pay.