Time for actions to replace talk in college football
Teams say they don’t care where they’re picked to finish in whatever league, in whatever sport.
Unless, of course, they don’t like where they’re picked.
Take college football, for example.
In the Big Sky Conference, Eastern Washington was picked to finish first in the 13-team league by both the media and the coaches. Idaho was picked to finish fourth by the coaches and fifth by the media.
In the Mountain West Conference, Boise State was picked by the media to win the Mountain Division.
In the Pac-12, Washington State was picked by the media to finish fifth out of six teams in the North Division.
Fall camps for area college football teams begin in the next few days.
At which time, the process starts for teams to prove that the coaches and/or media that picked them to finish wherever they did in the preseason polls either were crazy — or they actually knew what they were talking about.
Or both.
- Washington State: Only the Cougars, of the four teams mentioned above, could have a beef with being picked to finish ahead of only Oregon State in their division.
WSU was third last year in the North, and finished 9-4. The Cougs were second the year before in an 8-5 season, and third in 2015 in a 9-4 campaign.
The Cougs are coming off three straight bowl appearances for the first time in school history — and this is their reward?
We’re guessing at least part of it is based on the fact someone other than Luke Falk will be WSU’s starting quarterback. Falk, a three-year starter for the Cougs, is now in camp with the Tennessee Titans.
The media said that Oregon and California, who finished behind WSU last year in the North, will finish ahead of the Cougs this year.
We shall see.
- Idaho: The Vandals were picked behind EWU, Weber State and Northern Arizona in the coaches poll, and behind EWU, Weber, NAU and Montana in the media poll.
(The media picked the Griz fourth, and the coaches picked them seventh. Hmm ... )
Anyway, since it’s the Vandals’ first season back in the Big Sky Conference since 1995, after spending the last 22 seasons in FBS, folks had to judge how a pretty good team in a lower-level FBS league would fare in an upper-level FCS league.
The answer, apparently — pretty well, a contender to make the 24-team FCS playoffs.
Idaho’s question is similar to WSU’s — how will the new starting quarterback do? The Vandals graduated a four-year starter at the position last year.
- Eastern Washington: Why not the Eags? There was a little slippage last year under first-year coach Aaron Best — slippage being relative: EWU was 7-4, 6-2 in the Big Sky, and missed the FCS playoffs. But quarterback Gage Gubrud returns, and the Eagles made the FCS playoffs six of the nine previous seasons, including a national title in 2010.
The Eagles have gotten the program to the point where it’s basically their league to lose.
- Boise State: The Broncos should be picked first in their division every season, if not the entire conference. It would be a stunner if Boise State wasn’t the favorite. They are head and shoulders above every other team in the conference, year in and year out. Teams like San Diego State, Colorado State, Wyoming and Fresno State have been good in recent years. But Boise State is the only one mentioned as a possible New Year’s Six bowl team, or even a College Football Playoff team.
Like EWU, Boise State’s “slippage” in recent years has been relative — 11-3 last season, 10-3 in 2016, 9-4 in 2015, 8-5 in ‘13 — especially compared to the 50-3 era under quarterback Kellen Moore, who has been elevated to sainthood status in the Treasure Valley.
The other wannabe contenders in that league would call those “breakthrough” seasons.
Almost like Gonzaga men’s basketball in the West Coast Conference, the Broncos are the bullies of Mountain West football.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.