Paying off a card dropped my score 27 points, is the zero balance myth hurting us?

Ngl, I keep seeing people proud of hitting $0 balances and acting like that's the endgame for credit. But last month I paid my only card down to zero, and my FICO dropped from 742 to 715. It took me a second to realize the scoring model saw no recent usage, so it flagged me as inactive. On the flip side, carrying a 10% balance, like $300 out of $3000, seems to keep my score stable around 750. Am I wrong for thinking the "pay it all off" advice is actually costing people points? Has anyone else watched their score dip after a full payoff, or is my situation just a fluke with my lender? I'd love to hear if anyone's tested both ways and landed on a clear winner.

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