recruiting battles with Boise State for 3 star-under the radar recruits. We've won some & lost some but Boise State is a recruiting competitor (just ask Jeff Hansen/Mitch Harper/Ben Criddle/Casey Lundquist/Terrell Williams etc.).
Until recently BYU & Boise State were non P4 schools in mid-size metro areas (Salt Lake & Boise) in sparsely populated inner-mountain states that depend on finding "under the radar" recruits in California, Washington, Hawaii & Arizona (our traditional recruiting grounds).
That's why they're a major competitor. They're fighting us for the same 3-star recruits that the P4 schools didn't care for.