No one expects a team like Utah to beat a top 10 PSU blue blood with two all americans sitting out and QB1 going down.
14-14 at half. 21-14 with Utah moving the ball well and rushing at will when Rising goes down...and Utah should be embarrassed? Nah.
Same could be said the year before. Tied up game. Utah moving the ball at will. Rising leaves and the entire game strategy on both sides changes dramatically.
That's why the losses hardly impacted Utah in the rankings.
Other losses, losing at UF by a FG with a chance to win is forgivable. People know it's tough to win on the road. Utah lost to SDSU in similar fashion last year and BYU fans made a huge deal out of it, then Utah blew SDSU out when they came to RES.