For decades we complained that teams from major conferences were too chicken to come play the Cougars in Provo. Just this year we were critical of Tennessee for chickening out of coming to Provo.
How the turn tables. And now many of us are acting snooty and want our team to be the same as those that we’ve criticized in the past.
To specifically answer your question, though, it was a home and home series that was arranged while we were independent. And we kept the game because it was scheduled for September when our non-conference games are supposed to be played.