This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Provo • When the Southern Utah University football team plays BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it will be giving the Cougars a bit of a discount.

How so?

According to a pair of game contracts obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, BYU will pay SUU $400,000 for the visit. The University of Utah paid SUU $435,000 for the game at Rice-Eccles Stadium last September in which Utah won, 24-0.

The "guarantee game" was SUU's first against the Utes, and it will be the Thunderbirds' first against the Cougars at 1 p.m. MT on Saturday.

"We needed a home game to finalize our 2016 schedule and SUU had an opening," BYU AD Tom Holmoe said on Oct. 28, 2015, when the game was announced. "It turned out to be a good fit for both schools."

And a nice little payday for the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school in Cedar City. The BYU-SUU contract signed Sept. 29, 2015 called for BYU to pay $100,000 before May 31 and the remaining $300,000 no later than 30 days following the completion of the game.

The Utah-SUU contract signed Sept. 10, 2012, called for the entire $435,000 to be paid within 90 days following the game.

Southern Utah received 300 complimentary tickets from BYU, and 60 sideline passes, with the option to request up to 2,000 tickets to be sold on consignment at the printed face value. It received up to 500 complimentary tickets from Utah, with a similar option of 2,000 more.

In an interesting twist, BYU safeties and special teams coach Ed Lamb was SUU's head coach when the BYU contract was worked on last fall. He said Tuesday that he was "100 percent involved" in working out the details for what he called a "red letter game" for the FCS program, one that is circled on the calendar before the season starts.

"It was a game that we asked for and requested for six or seven years, and we finally got BYU to look at a date that was mutually available, and scheduled it," Lamb said after acknowledging how emotionally torn he will be on Saturday. "It was something I was very excited about then and I am less excited about it now."

Almost bowl-eligible

Representatives from the Poinsettia Bowl, to be played Dec. 21 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, will almost assuredly be at Saturday's game as the Cougars seek their sixth win to become bowl-eligible. BYU is contracted to play in the game, if bowl-eligible, against a team from the Mountain West Conference. Right now, that appears to be either Wyoming or San Diego State, since the Cougars have already faced Boise State and bowl organizers hate rematches.

"We have to continue the trend [of bowl appearances] that was started here from coach [Bronco] Mendenhall and his staff," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "We are one [win] away, and we have the opportunity to get that this weekend. That's our goal, is to win that sixth one, and then we can start making plans for the bowl game. But until then, we will have to go and get it."

Briefly

Sitake said Monday that freshman cornerback Austin McChesney needs knee surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Running back Squally Canada suffered a sprained left thumb against Cincinnati, but should play on Saturday. … SUU is the fourth of five teams on BYU's 2016 schedule that has never played the Cougars. The fifth first-timer is UMass, which visits LES next week. The Cougars finish the three-game homestand on Nov. 26 against Utah State.

Twitter: @drewjay —

Southern Utah at BYU

P Saturday, 1 p.m.

TV • BYUtv