Not sure why it's so controversial or unbelievable that certain teams, including BYU often play better under the lights.

It's a documented phenomenon for several teams, perhaps most notably LSU. Most college football fans are familiar with this:

"The Tigers have fared much better under the lights than during the day. Since 1960, LSU is 231-61-4 (. 787) at night in Tiger Stadium compared to a 29-26-3 (. 526) record during the day over that span."

Texas A&M, Penn St, Oregon, Washington and others similarly have documented advantages in their night home games.

The possible reasons for this phenomenon are several, but one interesting documented reason for West Coast teams is the circadian advantage:


Given how BYU has taken big measures to amp up the night game environment in the past decade, it should not be a surprise that BYU often performs better in these games.

And for the past decade, BYU is 7-1 by my count in evening games at LES vs ranked opponents, and 1-4 in day games at LES vs ranked opponents.

Given night-game advantages documented (and well known by many fans) at other schools, it really doesn't take a huge leap to consider that perhaps BYU really does also enjoys a certain advantage at home night games.