Play common opponents.
However, if Utah’s access to the playoffs comes down to a committee decision against let’s say Oklahoma, would your lead argument be “the sub 500 teams in our conference beat the sub 500 teams from other power 5 conferences.” If so, do you think that’s a better argument than “we beat BYU who beat the mtn west conference champ and runner up as well as a bowl eligible sec team and USC.”
And honestly neither argument is great, but I’m less convinced by the first... we may just have to agree to disagree.