All around the Mountain West, it seems like everybody has a new quarterback.
Garrett Grayson is gone, leaving Colorado State with a new signal-caller. University of Nevada has the difficult task of replacing Cody Fajardo.
Fresno State has been known to churn out stable quarterbacks. Will the Bulldogs be able to do the same this year?
University of Hawai’i grabbed senior USC transfer Max Wittek, giving the Rainbow Warriors arguably their most solid quarterback since Colt Brennan in 2005-07.
Will Utah State’s senior quarterback Chuckie Keeton perform near his pre-injury level? Will he even be able to stay healthy?
Maybe this is the year when the MW becomes the Wild, Wild West.
Last year, it was the Wild, Wild Mountain, when the top four teams in the Mountain Division all finished with 10 wins: Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State and Air Force Academy.
A preseason poll conducted with sports editors from Mountain West school student newspapers show there’s no clear favorite.
Boise State was picked to win the Mountain Division in near-unanimous fashion.
SDSU was picked to win the West Division, garnering 114 points in the poll, compared to Fresno State’s 112.
Many have BSU taking down the Aztecs in the Mountain West Championship game, should those two duke it out for the title. SDSU doesn’t play the Broncos this year in the regular season.
Nothing was unanimous. Only Boise State was close to being unanimous No. 1 in the Mountain Division.
UNLV’s only vote that wasn’t a last-place vote was a fourth-place vote.
The Rebels won two games last year, but have high optimism this season with new head coach Tony Sanchez, who comes from national high school football powerhouse Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas).
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Rashard Higgins (Jr. WR, Colorado State)
Donnel Pumphrey (Jr. RB, SDSU)
Kyler Fackrell (Sr. LB, Utah State)
Darian Thompson (Sr. S, Boise State)
KEY GAMES
Arizona at Nevada, Sept. 12
Utah State at Washington, Sept. 19
Boise State at Virginia, Sept. 25
Fresno State at SDSU, Oct. 3
Boise State at Colorado State, Oct. 10
Boise State at Utah State, Oct. 16
Utah State at SDSU, Oct. 23
SDSU at Colorado State, Oct. 31
Nevada at Fresno State, Nov. 5
Utah State at Air Force, Nov. 14
Air Force at Boise State, Nov. 20
Colorado State at Fresno State, Nov. 28
STUDENT MEDIA POLL
MOUNTAIN DIVISION
Boise State 118 points (5)
Utah State 96 points (1)
Colorado State 94 points
Air Force 65 points
Wyoming 52 points
New Mexico 28 points
WEST DIVISION
SDSU 114 points (3)
Fresno State 112 points (3)
Nevada 80 points
San Jose State 71 points
Hawai’i 60 points
UNLV 28 points
Numbers in parentheses indicate first-place votes. Votes were cast by sports editors from The Spartan Daily (SJSU), The Rocky Mountain Collegian (CSU), The Collegian (FSU), The Nevada Sagebrush (UNR), The Branding Iron (Wyoming) and The Daily Aztec.
