BYU offensive lineman wants 1 more ‘Pay Day’ Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium

After spending four years defending LaVell Edwards Stadium, Connor Pay is down to his final 60 minutes, and he knows exactly how he wants it to go.
“I want to win, and I want us to play great on offense,” Pay told BYUtv’s “GameDay” pregame show. “I know when I walk off that field for the last time, it’s going to be an emotional experience.”
The 6-foot-five, 315-pound former Lone Peak High star is among 20 Cougars who are expected to play their final home game Saturday night against Houston (8:15 p.m., ESPN) — and they have a lot to play for. The Cougars need a win and help from Arizona or Kansas State to reach next week’s Big 12 championship game, where the winner qualifies for the College Football Playoff.
“The whole season rests on playing well in this game,” Pay said. “It sucks that we put ourselves in this position where we don’t control our own destiny anymore, but (the Big 12 title game) is still in the cards. If we want any shot at a conference championship, (we) have to win this game.”
Back-to-back defeats to Kansas (17-13) and Arizona State (28-23) dropped BYU (9-2, 6-2) from No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings to No. 19. The losses taught the Cougars a lesson.
“You have to play for 60 minutes,” Pay said. “Last week we had great practices (ahead of ASU). We were pretty surprised about the slow start. I think it’s fixable, because we saw how we can execute our offense in the second half and now we need to start (Saturday’s) game that way. It’s definitely fixable — and it has to be.”
During his time on the offensive line, with most of it at center, Pay has protected Zach Wilson, Jaren Hall, Baylor Romney, Kedon Slovis and Jake Retzlaff — and he has won a lot of games. BYU is 43-18 since he showed up and the Cougars are one win away from Pay’s third 10-plus win season and his first shot at a conference championship.
“We need to start fast on offense, control the line of scrimmage and score points in the first half,” Pay said. “We have to attack every moment as if a championship is on the line — because it is.”
Convinced his BYU days were over, Pay participated in senior-sendoff activities last year. However, after TJ Woods was hired as the offensive line coach and running game coordinator, he decided to stick around.
Pay followed in his father’s footsteps at BYU. Garry Pay played on the offensive line in the late 1980s and early 90s. Connor’s younger brothers, Trevor and Austin, will follow him. Trevor joined the team this season after completing his church mission. Austin, a 6-foot-7 national prospect, committed to BYU earlier this month, choosing the Cougars over Oregon and Texas A&M.
“I can attribute a lot of the positive things in my life to this university,” said Pay, who graduates next month from the Marriott School of Business. “This is where my parents (Garry and Jeana) met. This is where my dad got his law degree to provide for our family. The life that I have had and the life my siblings have had, all of that stuff, has (been) because of BYU.”
Pay served a mission to Washington, D.C., prior to settling into Provo. The team captain is tenacious in the trenches, but Pay’s big-picture view of life is framed by his faith and that is what attracted him to play football for BYU.
“Faith is the most important thing in my life. For me and my family, that’s probably the biggest draw is just the fact that it’s a faith-filled institution and being a private institution, we get to infuse that into every aspect of the university — in the classroom, on the football field and in team/position meetings,” Pay said. “You can have God with you every step of the way at this university which is a pretty special thing. It’s not that you can’t have that elsewhere, but it’s pretty fun to be able to get it from both sides, where it’s not only coming from me and my personal life, but also from the university reinforcing that.”
With future Pays coming, tonight won’t be the family’s last “Pay Day” at LaVell Edwards Stadium. But for Connor, it will be his final ride that he hopes will take him and his teammates to next week’s Big 12 Championship Game.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.