If there is skepticism or doubt regarding BYU, it's simply that BYU has not been very consistent under Sitake. And while winning is obviously the most important from a football perspective, how you win is also taken into account. The defense so far has shown that they can keep BYU in games and/or get turnovers to help the offense out. The offense has decent P4 talent in the WR/TE ranks and Jake's ceiling is probably that of an efficient game manager. Also, the run game is decent but the blocking still needs to get better. Obviously getting LJ back would be a major boost.
This year's team and its relatively easy P4 schedule means that if the defense can keep BYU in games while the offense continues to improve, BYU could compete for a Big XII championship. Sure, it's still a bit of a long shot and I full expect teams to exploit BYU's weaknesses a bit more but get the right bounces, stay/get healthy and really anything's possible. With that said, I still expect at least 3-4 losses the rest of the way but just being "here" is much better than I anticipated before the season began.