Utah State football will have a hill to climb in the Mountain West Conference this year, if the preseason poll is to be taken at face value.
The Aggies, with 78 points, were picked to finish fourth in the MWC's Mountain Division in the league's preseason poll unveiled Tuesday morning at the annual MW Media Summit in Las Vegas.
Boise State was a consensus pick (22 first-place votes, 132 points) to finish first in the Mountain Division, followed by Wyoming (95) and Colorado State (82) above USU. Air Force (52) and New Mexico (23) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Mountain Division in the poll.
The Aggies return 18 starters — nine on each side of the ball — this season, which trails only Florida (19) and Michigan State (19) nationally.
Utah State is coming off a season where it returned to the postseason — a trip to the Arizona Bowl resulted in a 26-20 OT loss to New Mexico State — but finished 6-7 on the year, including two conference losses by five points or less.
"It’s a deliberate mindset of we need to come out with the W in some of these close games, and hopefully all of our games this year. … Those are the games that keep you up at night,” senior USU offensive lineman Roman Andrus said in a video session during the MW Media Summit. “We could have gone from having a pretty good season last year to a great season, so that’s the goal for this year.”
Fresno State (16 first-place votes, 126 points) was picked to win the West Division, just ahead of San Diego State (six, 116). UNLV (78) was picked third in the division, followed by Nevada (72), Hawaii (45) and San Jose State (25).
The Aggies were also represented by a pair of juniors — tight end Dax Raymond and kicker Dominik Eberle — on the preseason Mountain West All-Conference team.
Eberle was a member of the 2017 All-MW first team and a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the nation's top placekicker. He was 18 of 24 on field goals last season, including 4 of 8 from 40-49 yards, and made all 47 extra-point attempts.
Raymond, is his first season as a starter, caught 41 passes for 456 yards and a touchdown last year while earning honorable mention All-MW honors.
"He's got talent, and he produces," USU coach Matt Wells said of Raymond during a MW Media Summit session. "He's got a wide variety of skillset. He's not just a inline tight end that will smash you and he's not an H-back type receiver. He's a hybrid. He can do both."
Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien was named the league's preseason offensive player of the year, while Wyoming safety Andrew Wingard earned preseason defensive player of the year accolades. Boise State kick/punt returner Avery Williams was named the preseason special teams player of the year.