Commissioner says Big Sky belongs with ‘Group of 5’

Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton was careful not to mention any conferences by name, but his message was still clear: The Big Sky belongs with the non-power 5 conferences — all of them.

Fullerton, speaking at the annual Big Sky Football Kickoff event in Park City, Utah, talked about how the Power 5's move to autonomy has "redrawn the line" in college football. Instead of drawing it under all the FBS conferences, it now just includes the top five conferences — right where Fullerton says it belongs. He believes that the move to autonomy has weakened the Group of 5 (American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt), and it was for this reason the Big Sky so heavily supported it.

Fullerton said the Big Sky isn't just nipping at the heels of those five conferences, but actually have a few looking up to them. But even with that, don't expect the Big Sky to be looking for FBS admittance soon.

"It begins to blur the lines ... ," Fullerton said. "It's a process and it's going to take a long time, but it's just where we belong. But I think to chase FBS prematurely would be a mistake."

He said that several of the Big Sky's schools have been invited to FBS over the last few years, and he's scared to think about where they might be if they had gone.

"They all understood, and identified what we were about, where we were going and how we'll get there," Fullerton said. "Now we find ourselves as one of three remaining football conferences in the West. We didn't have to chase FBS to do it."

In fact, Fullerton thinks that other schools could benefit from dropping down and joining the Big Sky, mentioning New Mexico State and Idaho of the Sun Belt Conference.

"I couldn't be more excited about the upside the Big Sky has over the next five years," Fullerton said. "I think you will see us expand into different territories, just as a brand."

New helmets for SUU

Media members, conference officials and attending players all did a double take when walking by the Southern Utah table Monday at the Big Sky Conference Kickoff event. It wasn't just the imposing presence of defensive end and preseason Defensive MVP James Cowser that was drawing the attention, it was the two helmets that were being showcased. Two helmets that were both white.

The Thunderbirds wore a white helmet with a red decal, last season, but now the white will be the norm. Southern Utah will have three helmets to choose from this season — its traditional black helmet, a white helmet with a red decal and white helmet with a black decal.

According to Southern Utah public relations, the team only plans to wear its black helmet once this season.

Replay coming to the Big Sky

On Saturday, the Big Sky announced that replay will be available in every football and basketball game held in conference venues.

The conference has been working with Pac-12 Coordinator of Football officiating Jim Blackwood to help train and get the system in place for its games.

On Monday, Blackwood spoke at the Big Sky Football Kickoff event where he wanted to clear things up.

"There are some misconceptions that I would like (people) to understand," he said. "It's a three-prong effect. For us to get a replay, we first have to decide if there was an error made, it has to be a reviewable play and it has to have a direct competitive effect on the field."

That "direct competitive effect" includes scoring plays, turnovers and first downs. Big Sky fans shouldn't expect to see every bad spot changed throughout the course of the game.

The conference selected and started training officials in February, in preparation for the 2015 season. Each replay official will travel with the same seven-man crew throughout the year.

"The thing we are doing with replay is really exciting," Fullerton said. "It's become a staple that fans expect. They expect for that big miss to be overturned or that big miss to be looked at."

Three Thunderbirds named to preseason All-Conference team

Southern Utah had three representatives on the preseason All-Conference team.

Defensive end James Cowser, who was named the Big Sky preseason Defensive MVP, was joined by cornerback LeShaun Sims and safety Miles Killebrew as the Thunderbirds selected to the team.

Eastern Washington receiver Cooper Kupp was named the preseason Offensive MVP. Southern Utah did not have any offensive players named to the squad.

Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter, @millerjryan .