The 1985 team played a tougher schedule, including the defending Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl champs as well as a top ten team and the eventual Rose Bowl champs. The defense held opposing offenses to one score or less in 6 games, with 3 shutouts. And the media recognized BYU as a legit team--it's hard to imagine any other BYU team finishing the season with a bowl loss on top of two other losses and still finishing #16. It's the highest-ranked a BYU has finished with either a bowl loss or 3 total losses, and this team did both.
The team was a couple bad bounces away from 13-0 and a repeat national championship.