Calling it a choke is where VU is trolling to get under people's skin, but there's some validity in needing a better schedule. People point out Kansas, Auburn, Iowa, W Virginia and Virginia and that's valid, but that was all at the start of the season.
100 days after that with no top competition (BYU or USC as the top team in the interim) means they probably weren't as sharp as they could have been. They might benefit from trying to get some decent non-conf games later in the season.