Southern Utah University’s 10-year athletic run in the Big Sky Conference is officially coming to an end in two weeks but the Thunderbirds will still feature consistently on Weber State’s football schedule in the future.

Weber State and SUU announced an agreement Thursday to play a six-game football series beginning in 2026 and finishing up in 2031, continuing what the schools have called the Beehive Bowl.

All games are scheduled for September nonconference play. Southern Utah will host games in 2026, 2028 and 2030, while Weber State will host in 2027, 2029 and 2031.

Southern Utah officially leaves the Big Sky and joins the Western Athletic Conference, which recently relaunched football at the FCS level, on July 1.

Weber State has won five straight games in the series, the most recent a 62-0 drubbing last November in Cedar City. WSU went 7-4 against SUU while both shared the Big Sky Conference, including 10 regular-season games and WSU’s 30-13 playoff win in 2017. The Wildcats are 21-8 overall in the series.

The contests are Weber State’s first nonconference games created for the 2026 season or beyond.

Weber State opens the upcoming 2022 season by hosting Western Oregon on Thursday, Sept. 1. After a Sept. 10 road contest at Utah State, the Wildcats welcome the newly renamed Utah Tech Trailblazers to Ogden on Sept. 17. WSU beat the Trailblazers 41-3 last season.

WSU is in need of a 2023 nonconference home game, likely to open the season. Weber is currently slated for 2023 road games at Northern Iowa and at Utah.

WSU PREZ NAMED BIG SKY CHAIR

The Big Sky Conference Presidents’ Council recently elected Weber State’s Brad Mortensen to serve as its new chairperson for the next two school years, the league announced last week.

The Presidents’ Council is comprised of school presidents from each Big Sky member school. Typically, school presidents have the ultimate decision-making power in a conference to decide things like membership, bylaws, and other matters like conference tournament hosting sites and procedures.

“The Big Sky Conference is a leader in athletic excellence and more importantly the holistic development of student-athletes,” Mortensen said in a news release. “While the landscape of collegiate athletics continues to evolve, I am excited to work with Commissioner Tom Wistrcill, conference staff, Big Sky presidents, and athletics leadership teams to position the conference and our student-athletes to thrive in a way that invigorates our universities, communities, alumni, and fans.”

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