PROVO — Although they were from a place thousands of miles away, geographically and culturally, Alabamans Ryan and Cathey Lee Pugh were able to make themselves comfortable during their brief one-year stay in Provo in 2018.
They even added a daughter to the community’s young populace, Etta Graceyn.
“Coach Pugh came to BYU (as the offensive line coach) not being a (member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and it was an easy transition for him and his wife,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said Monday. “They came here and kinda grasped onto our culture here and they were able to thrive in it.”
The Cougars hope Pugh’s second visit to Utah is not nearly as enjoyable. Pugh left BYU in January 2019 to become Troy’s offensive coordinator, and the Cougars just happen to be hosting the Trojans on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN) in the first-ever meeting of the proud college football programs.
Troy’s not Alabama, a team the Cougars were hoping to add to their slate this month when their original schedule fell apart over the summer, but it is from the same football-crazy state and does have a lot of SEC-type athletes and playmakers, Sitake and BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes — the man responsible for bringing Pugh to Provo — have said this week.
“I have been really impressed with them,” Sitake said. “They have big targets at receiver that can catch the ball. They have great speed at slot receiver, and a group of running backs that can run the ball and catch it, coupled with a really good quarterback (Gunnar Watson) who can really stress a defense. They are a well-coached, really physical team in all three phases. And really disciplined. We are going to have to be ready for all of that.”
“We are excited for this opportunity to play a storied program like BYU, home of the original Air Raid offense with LaVell Edwards. It is exciting for me to go out and play these guys. I grew up watching the great quarterbacks they have had there — Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer, Jim McMahon, just to name a few. I am very familiar with that program from afar.” — Troy coach Chip Lindsey
Like Pugh was at BYU when he helped engineer a 24-21 win at No. 6 Wisconsin with a punishing run game in 2018, the Trojans are at ease facing programs with higher national profiles. No one in cardinal, silver and black Saturday will care that BYU is a 14-point favorite.
Troy knocked off No. 18 LSU in 2017 and stunned Nebraska in Lincoln in 2018.
“Troy is a team that has always played well against top programs,” Grimes said. “I was at LSU three years ago when they came to Baton Rouge and beat us there. … This is the type of program that expects to win against quality programs.
The Trojans will be looking to add an upset of BYU to the Sun Belt’s collection of stunners in 2020 that include Louisiana’s win over No. 23 Iowa State, Coastal Carolina’s rout of Kansas and Arkansas State’s defeat of Kansas State.
“We are excited for this opportunity to play a storied program like BYU, home of the original Air Raid offense with LaVell Edwards,” said Troy coach Chip Lindsey. “It is exciting for me to go out and play these guys. I grew up watching the great quarterbacks they have had there — Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer, Jim McMahon, just to name a few. I am very familiar with that program from afar.”
Although No. 18-ranked BYU (1-0) will have most of the advantages of playing at home, the altitude (Troy, Alabama, is 541 feet above sea level), the home field, the familiar locker room, it won’t have a home-crowd edge. No fans will be allowed in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday or the Oct. 2 game vs. Louisiana Tech due to COVID-19 concerns.
“Coach Pugh and coach Lindsey are going to have those boys ready,” said BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki. “We are coming in right now off a big win, and have a little bit more attention nationally, and so to them it is a big game, obviously. We need to make sure our boys are ready for the challenge because we know those guys will play hard.”
Putting Pugh into the mix just increases the respect the Cougars have for their home opener opponent in what will be the first college football game played in the West this year.
“If you have met him, you can understand why,” Sitake said. “He is a person that you just can’t, like, forget about. He leaves an impact in your life, whether he is a coach that works for you, or a teammate. … I think he is going to have a lot of success as offensive coordinator and he will make a great head coach one day. He’s a special young man. Really happy for him. Trying to make things rough for him this weekend. But after that we will all cheer for him.”
When Grimes joined Sitake’s staff in 2018, he quickly targeted Pugh, who had been with him in three previous coaching stops, to replace Mike Empey.
“There is nobody I am closer to in football, or outside my family, than Ryan,” Grimes said. “He’s like a son to me. … I just think the world of him. I am certainly hoping for the best for him every week but this one.”
As part of the last-minute agreement announced on Aug. 13, BYU will return the visit to Troy on Sept. 5, 2026. Pugh said he wasn’t consulted about BYU when Troy was scrambling to find games, like the Cougars were, and found out about the series at the same time everyone else did.
Troy athletic director Brent Jones “jumped on an opportunity to play on a national stage against a tradition-rich football team in BYU,” Pugh said. “… I don’t think my opinion was that big, but I am certainly excited to be playing at BYU.”
Pugh, 31, acknowledged “a lot of emotions will be flowing” this week and on Saturday as well. The school thousands of miles from his hometown of Hoover, Alabama, had a “big impact” on him, he said, even if he was just there for one season.
“The biggest impact it had on me was getting to coach with such great men, and being able to balance the family side of life as well as coaching,” he said. “Of the places I had been prior to that, not all of them were structured like BYU and it really opened my eyes to the ability to really include your family and incorporate your family into that.”
Pugh said it was almost like he was coaching in the professional football ranks “because you are talking about young men who are 24, 25 years old. They have families themselves. They are there to get a great education. So many things wrapped up into one, but just a great experience I had. There’s no doubt my time at BYU, although it was short, really shaped where I am at today.”