Northwest Notes

| July 21, 2017 1:00 AM

NEW ORLEANS — The Idaho Vandals tied for third in the Sun Belt Conference last year and won their first bowl game since 2009, but apparently the rest of the league’s coaches weren’t all that impressed.

Idaho’s football team, coming off a 9-4 season, was picked to finish sixth in this year’s Sun Belt Conference preseason football poll, the league office announced on Thursday. The poll is compiled by the conference’s 12 head coaches.

Appalachian State was picked to win the Sun Belt, followed by Troy and Arkansas State. Idaho’s two conference losses were to App State and Troy. The Vandals did not play Arkansas State.

South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette were picked ahead of Idaho in fourth and fifth, respectively. The Jaguars and Ragin’ Cajuns both finished 2016 with a 6-7 record. The Vandals beat both teams last season.

Idaho was one of four Sun Belt schools to win a bowl in 2016. The Vandals finished the season with five straight wins, and was 6-2 in the Sun Belt.

Rounding out the poll was Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, Texas State and conference newcomer Coastal Carolina.

Idaho does not play Arkansas State, Georgia Southern and Texas State this season, its final season in the Sun Belt before dropping to FCS and the Big Sky next season.

“We are excited to get the season going,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “We are going to build off our success from last year. We know this is a tough conference, but we are working hard to win another bowl game this season.”

Petrino, defensive lineman Aikeem Coleman and quarterback Matt Linehan will be in New Orleans this weekend for the annual Sun Belt media day Monday. The event will be streamed live through ESPN3.

2017 Sun Belt Conference

preseason football poll

First-place votes in parentheses

1, Appalachian St. (7) 136 points. 2, Troy (2) 127. 3, Arkansas State (1) 122. 4, South Alabama, 98. 5, Louisiana-Lafayette (1) 95. 6, Idaho 84. 7, Georgia Southern 82. 8, Georgia State 48. 9, Louisiana-Monroe 46. 10, New Mexico State (1) 41. 11, Texas State 31. 12, Coastal Carolina 26.