BYU, Southern Utah prep for inaugural matchup: 5 questions with an SUU beat writer


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PROVO — BYU and Southern Utah are separated by just 209 miles, but the Cougars and Thunderbirds have never met on the football field before Saturday’s inaugural meeting at 1 p.m. MT on BYUtv and KSL NewsRadio.

What took so long? And what will be the emotions of several T-bird players as they face former head coach Ed Lamb, now the BYU assistant head coach and special teams coordinator?

We sat down with Ryan Miller, SUU beat writer for the Spectrum and Daily News in Cedar City, to talk about the Thunderbirds. Listen to the full podcast here, or read some of his comments below.

KSL: Why did it take so long to make this game happen?

RM: “I think you’ve got some conference stuff, BYU thinking it isn’t worth the time or money; there is a lot of money changing hands. But in the end, SUU needed to grow as a program. They used to be nothing, and it’s taken some time. But now they are an FCS program on the rise, and it makes a lot of sense with BYU as an independent and having to get these November games.”

KSL: What is the emotion like for SUU players as they prepare to face former coaches Ed Lamb and Jernaro Gilford?

KSL: “There really is no bad blood between the team and coach Lamb, or even coach Gilford. There understand it’s a lot more money, a bigger program and a better opportunity. Some of them wish they had told them a little better. Most of them found it via a mass email. But the bad blood comes in more from the transfers. It’s been swept under the rug at this point, but it did not sit well with the players or the coaches.

“They felt like they were acting as traitors on this. That’s really where the bad blood comes from, but I think most of it is past. No one is really upset with Keyan Norman. He went for academic reasons, and he happened to get a football scholarship out of it.”

KSL: How big was Ed Lamb to SUU and Cedar City?

RM: “He’s huge. I don’t know if you can ever truly measure how big of an effect he had on this program. He inherited a 19-game losing streak and leaves as the Big Sky champion. The Big Sky had been dominated by three schools for two decades, and SUU was the first team not named Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington to win an outright championship in the last 20 years. They have only been in the conference since 2012, but it skyrocketed under (Lamb). They joined a real conference, got real good in that conference, and now they are a real FCS player.

“The fans here have embraced the team. They are averaging 8,500 fans per game, and it’s really because of the team he made and the program he put in place. The coaches here have just continued on with it. He was the Cedar City Citizen of the Year; nothing to do with athletics, but people just like him. I think it’s the same way in Provo. He’s a likeable dude.”

KSL: How good is wide receiver Mike Sharp?

RM: “On the field, he’s the offense this year. There was a point where every single Patrick Tyler touchdown went to Mike Sharp, and he made it so they had a quarterback who was four weeks into the program and thrust into a starting role. But he had someone to throw to, and everything worked out. That’s been the case for Mike Sharp. Throw it to Mike and he’ll make things happen. He does everything: He’ll block downfield, play special teams, catching touchdowns, and he can do any route.

“He’s just a good, good player and a guy that you don’t always appreciate immediately.”

KSL: What can you say about Raysean Pringle, Malik Brown and the SUU run game?

RM: “Malik Brown is a stud of a running back. The amount of tackles he breaks every week blows me away. The offensive line is still young, and they’ve had some rough patches, but he’s been able to slip so many tackles for huge gains. Raysean is more of a game-breaker. If you get him in the open space, no one is catching him. He’s even thrown a touchdown pass.

“But mostly, it starts with Malik. He’s such a powerful running back and runs really hard.”

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