The realignment impacts on the Western Athletic Conference have led to two schools joining the Big Sky Conference, one of which was a former member. The Southern Utah Thunderbirds and Utah Tech Trailblazers will join the Big Sky Conference beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Both schools are members of the WAC and compete in the United Athletic Conference for football.
In addition, the five ASUN football-playing members – Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, and West Georgia – will join the Western Athletic Conference as full members in 2026-27. Those five schools already compete in the UAC for football, but the WAC will rebrand as the UAC in 2026-27, leaving the non-football teams in the ASUN. The remaining ASUN schools will be Bellarmine, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, North Florida, Queens, and Stetson. Stetson is a member of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.
As it stands without SUU and UTU, the UAC will consist of 7 football-playing teams and one non-football member: Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, Tarleton State, UT Arlington, and West Georgia. UT Arlington is the lone non-football member, although attempts have been made to restart the program in recent years.
The UAC has seen six schools depart the conference since 2022: Jacksonville State (2022), Lamar (2022), Sam Houston State (2022), Kennesaw State (2023), Stephen F. Austin (2024), and UTRGV (2024). UTRGV plays its first season in 2025, but the school was originally slated to compete in the UAC. Incarnate Word also planned to join the UAC and then left without playing a game in 2022.
The Big Sky will grow to 14 teams in 2026, although that may be temporary. The 2026 lineup will include Cal Poly, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Southern Utah, UC Davis, Utah Tech, and Weber State. Sacramento State will likely play as an independent starting in 2026 as it seeks another attempt to join the FBS, and UC Davis may not be a long-term Big Sky football member with its other sports joining the Mountain West in 2026.
Southern Utah joined the then-I-AA and the now-defunct American West Conference in 1993, sharing the AWC crown in its first season. The Thunderbirds were an independent team from 1996 through 2003 following the dissolution of the American West. SSU joined the Great West Conference in 2004, winning the 2010 title outright. The Great West also dissolved following the 2011-12 academic year, which led Southern Utah to join the Big Sky in 2012.
The Thunderbirds stayed in the Big Sky from 2012 through 2021, winning the 2015 title and sharing the 2017 championship. The school’s three FCS playoff appearances came as members of the Big Sky in 2013, 2015, and 2017. SUU lost its first playoff game each of those seasons. In 2022, SUU joined the WAC, which became the United Athletic Conference in 2023 when it merged football with the Atlantic Sun Conference. In the three years since leaving the Big Sky, Southern Utah has posted 5-6 (2-3), 6-5 (4-2), and 7-5 (6-2) seasons.
Utah Tech played at the NCAA Division II level in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference until 2019. It started the four-year reclassification process in 2020 as an independent, when the school was named Dixie State University. Utah Tech played two seasons in the WAC in 2021 and 2022, followed by the UAC in 2023 and 2024. The Trailblazers are 10-40 overall and 4-17 in conference games since joining the FCS.
Photo Credit to Utah Tech University Athletics
