Boise State, San Diego State expected to set pace
Boise State and San Diego State were the clear choices by the Mountain West media to win their respective divisions.
It’s a familiar position for the Broncos, who won the title last season and have been the league’s gold standard. San Diego State has put together five consecutive winning seasons, and tied Boise State and Fresno State for the conference championship in 2012.
The teams below are listed according to how they were picked by the conference media.
WEST DIVISION
SAN DIEGO STATE
’ Last season: 7-6, 5-3 MW (tied for first in the West Division). Lost to Navy 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl.
’ Returning starters: 6 offense, 8 defense
’ Three players to watch: RB Donnel Pumphrey, ORT Pearce Slater, CB Damontae Kazee
’ Three key losses: QB Quinn Kaehler, OLT Terry Poole, LB Josh Gavert
’ Outlook: Not many teams can losing its starting quarterback and be the overwhelming favorite to win the division. San Diego State returns eight starters from a defense that led the conference in allowing 332.5 yards per game. Having Pumphrey, a Canyon Springs High School graduate who rushed for 1,867 yards and 20 touchdowns, helps make up for the loss of Kaehler.
’ Coach Rocky Long: “I think our team will handle (being picked first) just fine. Our team understands the preseason stuff means nothing.”
FRESNO STATE
’ Last season: 6-8, 5-3 MW (tied for first). Lost to Boise State 24-14 in the Mountain West championship. Lost to Rice 30-6 in the Hawaii Bowl.
’ Returning starters: 6 offense, 5 defense
’ Three players to watch: RB Marteze Waller, OLT Alex Fifita, CB Charles Washington
’ Three key losses: WR Josh Harper, NT Tyeler Davison, S Derron Smith
’ Outlook: The Bulldogs got hot late last season with three consecutive victories to make the Mountain West championship game, but it was a largely flawed team, one that lost 30-27 in overtime to UNLV. Questions still remain, most notably at quarterback. Fresno State is fortunate it plays in the West but will have a difficult time getting past San Diego State.
’ Coach Tim DeRuyter: “I’ve got to do a better job of keeping our guys focused and keeping them on task. Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
UNR
’ Last season: 7-6, 4-4 MW (third).
’ Returning starters: 6 offense, 5 defense
’ Three players to watch: RB Don Jackson, DE Ian Seau, LB Jordan Dobrich
’ Three key losses: QB Cody Fajardo, WR Richy Turner, DE Brock Hekking
’ Outlook: Replacing Fajardo, a dual threat, will be far from easy. He passed for 2,498 yards and rushed for 1,046 last season. So expect the Wolf Pack, who have plenty of questions in other parts of the roster as well, to experience their share of struggles. But they should every opportunity to beat the teams in the bottom half of this division.
’ Coach Brian Polian: “I look at the preseason poll. I guess you have to vote, so there’s no choice, but I wouldn’t consider it an intelligent vote. How does anybody know? I don’t know. I do it for a living and I don’t know, so how does anybody else know?”
SAN JOSE STATE
’ Last season: 3-9, 2-6 (fifth).
’ Returning starters: 8 offense, 6 defense
’ Three players to watch: RB Tyler Ervin, WR Tyler Winston, CB Cleveland Wallace III
’ Three key losses: C David Peterson, DT Travis Raciti, LB Vince Buhagiar
’ Outlook: San Jose State ended last season with a six-game losing streak, but there is hope for the Spartans, who endured more than their share of injuries. With most of their starters returning, they could win enough games in the weak West to make it to the upper half of the division.
’ Coach Ron Caragher: “It was a tough sledding at the finish. … Some new guys played during that time and got some experience. That also creates a vision in our mind of what we want, and don’t forget the pain during that. Don’t forget that feeling because that’s a driving point of improving upon.”
HAWAII
’ Last season: 4-9, 3-5 MW (fourth)
’ Returning starters: 8 offense, 6 defense
’ Three players to watch: QB Max Wittek, OLT Ben Clarke, CB Ne’Quan Phillips
’ Three key losses: DE Beau Yap, LB TJ Taimatuia, S Taz Stevenson
’ Outlook: Coach Norm Chow raved about Wittek at Mountain West media days. Wittek transferred from Southern California, and the Rainbow Warriors’ hopes of any kind of season rest primarily on him, though he is surrounded by a veteran team.
’ Chow: “I recruited Max in high school. I get it. The Mountain West cannot get a guy like that out of high school. He’s a Pac-12 guy. … Everything that you want in a quarterback. The players voted him captain without any reservation.”
UNLV
’ Last season: 2-11, 1-7 MW (sixth)
’ Returning starters: 5 offense, 5 defense
’ Three players to watch: QB Blake Decker, WR Devonte Boyd, S Peni Vea
’ Three key losses: WR Devante Davis, OLT Brett Boyko, CB Kenneth Penny
’ Outlook: The great experiment begins for the Rebels, who hired coach Tony Sanchez from Bishop Gorman High School. He has brought energy and enthusiasm to the program, but it’s doubtful he will bring many victories this season. UNLV has too many holes (both lines) and too difficult a schedule (opening at Northern Illinois, against UCLA and at Michigan) for an immediate turnaround.
’ Sanchez: “Would we love to win a bunch of games fast? Absolutely. The kids would love it, we would love it, and the community would love it, but we’re focused on the process. I truly believe if we stay focused on that, (the winning will) come.”
MOUNTAIN DIVISION
BOISE STATE
’ Last season: 12-2, 7-1 MW (first in the Mountain Division). Defeated Fresno State 28-14 in the Mountain West championship. Defeated Arizona 38-30 in the Fiesta Bowl.
’ Returning starters: 9 offense, 8 defense
’ Three players to watch: C Marcus Henry, DE Kamalei Correa, S Darian Thompson
’ Three key losses: QB Grant Hedrick, RB Jay Ajayi, DE Beau Martin
’ Outlook: The defending conference champion Broncos return 17 starters, but all might not be smooth. They have to replace Hedrick, and finding a back to duplicate Ajayi’s 2,358 yards rushing and receiving is a near impossible task. This is a program, however, that lost valuable members in the past only to keep winning, and the same is expected this season with Boise State the conference’s leading candidate to make a New Year’s Six game.
’ Coach Bryan Harsin: “By winning our conference, that’s what springboarded us into winning the Fiesta Bowl (last season). That is still the ultimate goal.”
UTAH STATE
’ Last season: 10-4, 6-2 MW (tied for second). Defeated Texas-El Paso 21-6 in the New Mexico Bowl.
’ Returning starters: 8 offense, 7 defense
’ Three players to watch: QB Chuckie Keeton, LB Kyler Fackrell, LB Nick Vigil
’ Three key losses: WR/PR JoJo Natson, LB Zach Vigil, S Frankie Sutera
’ Outlook: Keeton and Fackrell are considered so talented that Keeton was named to the conference preseason team and Fackrell the top defensive player despite both players returning from major knee injuries. If they remain healthy, Utah State will challenge Boise State for the Mountain West title. But the Aggies have shown they can overcome major setbacks and still be in contention.
’ Coach Matt Wells: “I think it’s creating a culture and a chemistry in that locker room, but yet every summer and every training camp, not assuming that it’s there. I think that’s our job as coaches and as leaders in the program to reset that standard every year, to reset that culture every year.”
COLORADO STATE
’ Last season: 10-3, 6-2 MW (tied for second). Lost to Utah 45-10 in the Las Vegas Bowl.
’ Returning starters: 7 offense, 8 defense
’ Three players to watch: WR Rashard Higgins, TE Steven Walker, LB Cory James
’ Three key losses: QB Garrett Grayson, RB Dee Hart, LB Aaron Davis
’ Outlook: No Mountain West team lost more than the Rams. Grayson was the conference Offensive Player of the Year after passing for 4,006 yards and 32 touchdowns. Hart rushed for 1,275 yards and 16 TDs. And coach Jim McElwain headed off to Florida. But first-year coach Mike Bobo, who was at Georgia since 2001, gets back Higgins, coming off an All-America season in which he caught 96 passes for 1,750 yards and 17 touchdowns.
’ Bobo: “You take the job with high expectations. Our players have high expectations. … We can’t set the bar low. I want our guys to dream big. We haven’t won a championship since 2002 at Colorado State, and we all play to win a championship.”
AIR FORCE
’ Last season: 10-3, 5-3 MW (fourth). Defeated Western Michigan 38-24 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
’ Returning starters: 6 offense, 4 defense
’ Three players to watch: RB Jacobi Owens, DE Alex Hansen, S Weston Steelhammer
’ Three key losses: QB Kale Pearson, G Michael Husar Jr., LB Jordan Pierce
’ Outlook: Air Force was the conference’s surprise team last season, bouncing back from a 2013 season that ended 2-10, including 0-8 in the Mountain West. The Falcons not only put together a winning record, they were the lone Mountain West team to beat Boise State. Now the Falcons are expected to compete for the top half of the division, but probably not for the title.
’ Coach Troy Calhoun: “We’ve got to gain experience rapidly. So that will be a tough deal, but I think when you go through some of those rigors and those difficulties, if you are able to learn, it’ll help you over the long haul.”
WYOMING
’ Last season: 4-8, 2-6 MW (tied for fifth)
’ Returning starters: 5 offense, 4 defense
’ Three players to watch: RB Brian Hill, RB Shaun Wick, DE Eddie Yarbrough
’ Three key losses: QB Colby Kirkegaard, WR Dominic Rufran, LB Devyn Harris
’ Outlook: The rebuilding process continues for second-year coach Craig Bohl, who won three consecutive lower-level championships at North Dakota State before taking the Wyoming job. He has a talented pair of running backs to build around, but a lot of work remains to be done for a team that finished 10th in the conference last season in scoring offense (21.1 points per game) and scoring defense (32.8 average).
’ Bohl: “Changing the culture is like trying to take a big ship in shallow water and moving it. It takes some time. As football coaches, we live in dog years. We want it right now. I knew it was going to be a process, and you get in the middle of the process and go, ‘Wow.’ This is a challenge, but we’re on course with where we need to be, and it’ll be fun to see how this football team comes together.”
NEW MEXICO
’ Last season: 4-8, 2-6 MW (tied for fifth)
’ Returning starters: 7 offense, 7 defense
’ Three players to watch: QB Lamar Jordan, WR/KR Carlos Wiggins, LB Dakota Cox
’ Three key losses: C LaMar Bratton, DE Brett Bowers, S David Guthrie
’ Outlook: Coach Bob Davie took over a mess, so he still is being given the benefit of the doubt entering his fourth season. His expectations are to begin to show more than promise after going 11-26 in his first three seasons. That won’t be an easy task, but if the Lobos can get to .500 and become bowl eligible, that would help Davie show he has the program on the right track.
’ Davie: “We were able to trick some people early on with our (triple option) offense because they hadn’t played against it. We’ve been able to score some points, but we never really could stop people consistently enough to win. We’ve been a pain in the butt, but now I think we have a chance to do it week after week. I know the expectations are higher with our players, and they expect to win. I know I expect to win. I think we have a chance to be pretty good.”
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.
