unranked trans playing against nobodies they outperform averages for their time slot. With only very rare exception BYU brings far more fans to away games than Utah, especially to the Midwest and East. It's almost an order of magnitude difference.
No, we aren't Texas or Ohio St. However, BYU is enough of a national brand that ESPN is on record as saying we are one a handful of schools that can make independence work. One of the keys in that is enough fans to bring a substantial bump in gate revenue anywhere in the country.