Big Sky Conference adds Utah Tech, Southern Utah, beginning in 2026-27 academic year

After losing one of its members earlier in June, the Big Sky Conference hedged against any future departures by adding Southern Utah and Utah Tech to its ranks officially on Wednesday.

The move, effective in the 2026-27 season, comes after Sacramento State announced its departure for the Big West Conference – and its intention to play in the FBS as an independent if need be – starting that same season, which would have dropped the conference’s regular membership to nine and its football membership to 11.

But by adding the Thunderbirds and the Trailblazers, the Big Sky stabilized itself.

In a statement, league commissioner Tom Wistrcill focused on just how well the additions fit into the league’s footprint.

“Amid a rapidly evolving national landscape that each day seemingly pulls college sports farther from its true mission, this move underscores our commitment to a strong and sustainable future at the top of the FCS and across several key sports,” Wistrcill said. “Both of these programs bring institutional alignment that will enhance the Big Sky’s tradition as a national leader.”

A return to the Big Sky became practical – even advantageous – for Southern Utah as the Western Athletic Conference’s most recent iteration collapsed over the past few years, with some programs leaving for the FBS and the remaining WAC members merging with the Atlantic Sun Conference to form the United Athletic Conference in 2023.

Rejoining the Big Sky allows the Thunderbirds to associate themselves with teams from the West as opposed to the Southwest and South.

For Utah Tech, membership in the Big Sky is the culmination of a decade’s worth of movement through the levels of college athletics, from a junior college program as recently as 2005 to its current status as a Division I FCS program. That transition included a name change both in institution (from Dixie State to Utah Tech) and in mascot (from Rebels to Red Storm to Trailblazers).

In four full seasons since joining the FCS, Utah Tech has an 8-37 overall record in football. The program is 1-17 against Big Sky teams, its lone victory coming in 2023 over Northern Arizona. It is scheduled to play UC Davis, Northern Arizona and Idaho (as well as Southern Utah) this fall.

Southern Utah’s football record since leaving the Big Sky is 18-16, including a 6-2 mark in the UAC last season. Its 2025 schedule also includes three games against its past and now future conference mates, with games against Idaho State, NAU and UC Davis.

Eastern Washington Athletics Director Tim Collins said there is value in adding both schools to the conference. He highlighted Utah Tech’s upward trajectory through the college ranks as well as Southern Utah’s familiarity with the conference.

Southern Utah (in Cedar City) and Utah Tech (in St. George) will give the Big Sky three teams in Utah, joining Weber State (in Ogden).

SUU and UT participate in men’s golf and softball, two sports that, without Sacramento State, would have dropped to five sponsoring schools. Their additions help ensure the conference keeps its automatic qualifier status in the NCAA postseason.

In the end, the Big Sky has emerged from the past decade of FCS realignments and reclassifications as one of the most stable conferences in the subdivision.

In 2026, it will have 11 full members as well as two football affiliates (Cal Poly and UC Davis) and one in men’s golf (Francis Marion).

“It goes to show the value of athletics at our institutions and in our communities,” Collins said of the Big Sky. “We have strong brands athletically and academically.”

Yet by adding one more team that it is losing, the Big Sky has created a scheduling conundrum in many sports.

Basketball’s travel partner issue is one.

Football’s attempt at a more balanced schedule is another – and stickier – one.

Since it added Northern Colorado in 2006, the Big Sky has played an eight-game conference schedule in football. For six seasons, what was then a nine-team conference played a true round-robin schedule.

In 2012, the conference added four teams and continued to play an eight-game conference schedule, one that was competitively imbalanced by its nature. Southern Utah’s departure after the 2021 season gave the conference 12 teams, and over the past three years the conference’s schedule has been more elegant: Each team played two “rival” opponents every year while playing every other team two times, once away and once at home.

Parallel to Sacramento State’s process of leaving the Big Sky, the NCAA discussed – and on Wednesday, officially passed – a resolution to allow FCS teams to play a 12-game schedule every season.

Previously, the NCAA allowed 12-game seasons “in years when there are 14 Saturdays from the first permissible playing date through the last playing date in November,” according to the DI FCS Oversight Committee recommendation. The calendars in 2024 and 2025 met that requirement.

In response to the change, the Big Sky was planning to transition to a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2026, Collins said.

But Sacramento State’s departure was going to complicate that, as it is impossible to play a schedule in which everyone plays exactly nine games in a conference with an odd number of teams.

When the Big Sky adds Southern Utah and Utah Tech to become a 13-team conference, the problem will persist.

That means all teams, like Eastern Washington, will need to schedule a fourth nonconference game, which isn’t always easy for teams out West, Collins said.

Despite that challenge – Collins said he was already looking for a fourth opponent to add to Eastern’s 2026 slate of Northern Iowa, South Dakota and Washington – the EWU AD is glad to have the extra team.

“The benefits of two (programs) coming versus one are going to be significant,” he said.