Utah is playing for a shot at the PAC12 title, a Rose Bowl berth and the national attention (not to mention the tens of millions of dollars) that comes with it
BYU, as an Independent is playing...for pride? For fun? After the first loss it doesn't matter whether it's one loss or 6, they're going to the same bowl anyway and aren't on the national radar in the same way.
If they'd played this last season, I'd have been rooting for BYU since that game would finally be mattering more for BYU than for Utah.
On this board people tend to focus on my takes that are less positive for BYU, partly because those stand out more in this crowd. I've gotten way more pushback for agreeing with the author that Utah has better TE than I have when I disagreed with his assessment that Utah has a QB advantage. I'm very big on Hall (also Conover, less so on Romney though I think he's a great backup)
I also (from both my Utah and BYU fan perspective) want BYU to be better and make the rivalry less one-sided. I also firmly believe (and have for a long time) that BYU would be better served in a conference and think that's what can make them more competitive and their games would matter more.