For starters, they are more competitive in all sports.
The University invests pretty heavily into athletics at USU.
It is in a growing market and has a large enrollment as a research institution. SJSU is in a bigger market but is much more an after thought in that market than USU is in SLC.
Etc, etc. USU is a backwater program compared to BYU and Utah but compared to the dregs of the MW and C-USA they look pretty good. Kind of like being the prettiest girl in Scipio.