Or was it the loss of a bunch of the top players? Losing Taysom and Jamal made a huge impact for us.
Utah lost their QB (who was admittedly mediocre, but has somehow been replaced by worse)
They lost their top RB, who is now in the SEC averaging 100+ yards per game.
They lost their top WR, who is now contributing to an NFL team.
They lost 2 OL to the NFL
And their RB/WR/S sparkplug who they turned to when the offense couldn't move last year? Also now in the NFL.
The team had 4 players last year with 500+ scrimmage yards. 3 of those are gone and the other has been away from the team for undisclosed reasons. And (assuming Jackson is drafted this year), that's 5 NFL players leaving the offense.
Obviously Utah and Utah fans thought they had the pieces to replace those offensive losses. But it's also very obvious that they were wrong..
Utah definitely looked at signs from the opposing sideline (which I'd assume most teams also did, given that it is/was legal). And maybe Utah was better that it than others and so has lost more with helmet-to-helmet comms, but I'd guess the biggest impact is loss of talent