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BoiseStateFan27
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Figure I might as well do some preseason rankings for the Mountain West this year, I don't recall if I've done preseason before but I'm just excited for the season to start and I didn't get a chance to do my preview thread so I'm itching to do something.
A few Mountain West teams actually play this weekend to kick things off
1. Boise State - When looking at things in preseason it's tough to not rank the defending conference champs number 1, especially with how much Boise State returns. This team isn't without questions though, Rypien is very hit or miss and we'll find out real quick whether we'll get the good Rypien or bad Rypien this year. Danger lurks in week 1 with a game at Troy.
2. Fresno State - I still can't believe how much Fresno State improved in year 1 under Tedford. The good news is a lot of the reasons for that rise returns including QB Marcus McMaryion. McMaryion has proven to be quite the good QB, last year he was good for Fresno State and the year before that he actually led Oregon State to a strong finish to the season which had folks thinking they would improve in year 3 under Gary Andersen, Andersen foolishly decided to go with Luton instead of McMaryion last year and that's one reason why things fell apart there. Fresno State opens with Idaho, who is now a FCS program.
3. San Diego State - Last year will be a tough one for San Diego State after they got big wins over Arizona State and Stanford, they looked to be in control in the Mountain West and would have made a New Year's 6 bowl, then in a two week period it all fell apart and they didn't even make the conference championship. They lost Rashad Penny but they have more RBs waiting in the wings, they should be a solid team again...but Fresno State will prove to be tough competition for the division. Big opener as San Diego State faces Stanford who wants revenge for last year.
4. Utah State - Honestly ranking the rest of these teams is such a crapshoot, there's a big gap to the top 3. Utah State seemed like they were falling apart under Matt Wells after 2016, but last year they righted the ship and returned to a bowl, now with a lot of starters back they can progress even further this year. They will likely get crushed in their opener against Michigan State though.
5. Colorado State - Let me start out by mentioning how amazing it was to hear today that Mike Bobo was able to return to coaching today after being in the hospital this week, very good to hear he was able to make a full recovery. Back to football, Colorado State disappointed last year after falling apart in the 2nd half, they will be hoping to improve over their 7-6 records under Bobo so far. The schedule is tricky, they do open with Hawai'i on Saturday, then play rival Colorado the following Friday.
6. UNLV - It seems like Tony Sanchez has been ready for a breakthrough at some point, last year they went 5-7 but really should have made a bowl as they foolishly lost their opener as 43 point favorites against Howard, then ended the year losing to rival Nevada who struggled most of last year. UNLV did show some promise, including a big win over Fresno State. It's time to aim for a bowl, they will have to suffer through getting blown out by USC in the opener though.
7. Nevada - You want shootouts? Well Nevada will provide them, their offense caught fire late last year and the reasons for that improvement return. Nevada will likely struggle on defense though so outscoring their opponents will be their only option, should be fun. They open the season against Portland State who went winless at the FCS level last year so they should win.
8. Wyoming - Wyoming was tough for me to rank, on one hand they should have one of the best defenses in the Mountain West, on the other how well can this defense carry them. Their offense struggled WITH Josh Allen who was a top 10 pick, last year he missed a few games and without him they were so bad they lost to San Jose State. We'll find out about them early, they open this Saturday on the road against New Mexico State who won a bowl last year, then they return home to host Washington State.
9. Air Force - Feels odd ranking them this low but Air Force really fell apart last year, Worthman isn't as steady of a QB as they usually would like and the defense was awful. No one should be surprised though if they suddenly rebound this year. They have an easy opener as they play something called Stony Brook.
10. New Mexico - The Bob Davie era sure took a turn for the worse didn't it? After some absolutely fantastic seasons for this program suddenly last year off field issues with Davie served as a massive distraction and injuries on the field didn't help as they plummeted to 3-9. Davie somehow is still employed here and perhaps more surprising is he fired his offensive coordinator after one bad year. Yes, these last 3 are pretty much the dumpster fire teams of this conference. The bird is the word I guess because New Mexico opens against something called Incarnate Word, their logo is some sort of bird.
11. San Jose State - Well at least Brent Brennan is a highly optimistic coach, it seemed like he was on to something when they surprisingly jumped out to a 16-0 lead on South Florida, that turned out to be the highlight of the season where they only won two games. It will probably take another year to get things up and running here, but at least they open with UC Davis a week from today.
12. Hawai'i - Rolovich started off so strong in his first year it seemed like he could soon get Hawai'i on track again, then last year happened and everything fell apart. It gets even worse now as their two best players in QB Dru Brown and WR Dylan Collie both transferred. Finding small positives will be the key in what will be a tough year. They open Saturday at Colorado State, then the following Saturday will give us some late night football as they host Navy.
A few Mountain West teams actually play this weekend to kick things off
1. Boise State - When looking at things in preseason it's tough to not rank the defending conference champs number 1, especially with how much Boise State returns. This team isn't without questions though, Rypien is very hit or miss and we'll find out real quick whether we'll get the good Rypien or bad Rypien this year. Danger lurks in week 1 with a game at Troy.
2. Fresno State - I still can't believe how much Fresno State improved in year 1 under Tedford. The good news is a lot of the reasons for that rise returns including QB Marcus McMaryion. McMaryion has proven to be quite the good QB, last year he was good for Fresno State and the year before that he actually led Oregon State to a strong finish to the season which had folks thinking they would improve in year 3 under Gary Andersen, Andersen foolishly decided to go with Luton instead of McMaryion last year and that's one reason why things fell apart there. Fresno State opens with Idaho, who is now a FCS program.
3. San Diego State - Last year will be a tough one for San Diego State after they got big wins over Arizona State and Stanford, they looked to be in control in the Mountain West and would have made a New Year's 6 bowl, then in a two week period it all fell apart and they didn't even make the conference championship. They lost Rashad Penny but they have more RBs waiting in the wings, they should be a solid team again...but Fresno State will prove to be tough competition for the division. Big opener as San Diego State faces Stanford who wants revenge for last year.
4. Utah State - Honestly ranking the rest of these teams is such a crapshoot, there's a big gap to the top 3. Utah State seemed like they were falling apart under Matt Wells after 2016, but last year they righted the ship and returned to a bowl, now with a lot of starters back they can progress even further this year. They will likely get crushed in their opener against Michigan State though.
5. Colorado State - Let me start out by mentioning how amazing it was to hear today that Mike Bobo was able to return to coaching today after being in the hospital this week, very good to hear he was able to make a full recovery. Back to football, Colorado State disappointed last year after falling apart in the 2nd half, they will be hoping to improve over their 7-6 records under Bobo so far. The schedule is tricky, they do open with Hawai'i on Saturday, then play rival Colorado the following Friday.
6. UNLV - It seems like Tony Sanchez has been ready for a breakthrough at some point, last year they went 5-7 but really should have made a bowl as they foolishly lost their opener as 43 point favorites against Howard, then ended the year losing to rival Nevada who struggled most of last year. UNLV did show some promise, including a big win over Fresno State. It's time to aim for a bowl, they will have to suffer through getting blown out by USC in the opener though.
7. Nevada - You want shootouts? Well Nevada will provide them, their offense caught fire late last year and the reasons for that improvement return. Nevada will likely struggle on defense though so outscoring their opponents will be their only option, should be fun. They open the season against Portland State who went winless at the FCS level last year so they should win.
8. Wyoming - Wyoming was tough for me to rank, on one hand they should have one of the best defenses in the Mountain West, on the other how well can this defense carry them. Their offense struggled WITH Josh Allen who was a top 10 pick, last year he missed a few games and without him they were so bad they lost to San Jose State. We'll find out about them early, they open this Saturday on the road against New Mexico State who won a bowl last year, then they return home to host Washington State.
9. Air Force - Feels odd ranking them this low but Air Force really fell apart last year, Worthman isn't as steady of a QB as they usually would like and the defense was awful. No one should be surprised though if they suddenly rebound this year. They have an easy opener as they play something called Stony Brook.
10. New Mexico - The Bob Davie era sure took a turn for the worse didn't it? After some absolutely fantastic seasons for this program suddenly last year off field issues with Davie served as a massive distraction and injuries on the field didn't help as they plummeted to 3-9. Davie somehow is still employed here and perhaps more surprising is he fired his offensive coordinator after one bad year. Yes, these last 3 are pretty much the dumpster fire teams of this conference. The bird is the word I guess because New Mexico opens against something called Incarnate Word, their logo is some sort of bird.
11. San Jose State - Well at least Brent Brennan is a highly optimistic coach, it seemed like he was on to something when they surprisingly jumped out to a 16-0 lead on South Florida, that turned out to be the highlight of the season where they only won two games. It will probably take another year to get things up and running here, but at least they open with UC Davis a week from today.
12. Hawai'i - Rolovich started off so strong in his first year it seemed like he could soon get Hawai'i on track again, then last year happened and everything fell apart. It gets even worse now as their two best players in QB Dru Brown and WR Dylan Collie both transferred. Finding small positives will be the key in what will be a tough year. They open Saturday at Colorado State, then the following Saturday will give us some late night football as they host Navy.
