Including a loss to Utah State the week before beating BYU and a 30 loss to Arizona State the week after on their way to a 5-7 (3-6) season.

In 2013 Utah finished 5-7 (2-7) and lost five straight games but still beat BYU.

In 2017 Utah finished 6-6 (3-6) and had a four game losing streak (and six out of seven) but still beat BYU.

There is every reason to believe that a bad Utah team can still beat BYU, especially when most of their losses are still very competitive. In one score games (like most of the recent BYU vs Utah games have been), one or two plays (pick six, blocked FG, botched 4th down, bad penalty, missed call, injuries, etc) can make a huge difference.