LOGAN — Winning the Mountain West Conference football championship this season is the stated goal of many Utah State Aggies.
It is all senior inside linebacker Kevin Meitzenheimer cares about, really.
“I really want that now,” he told the Deseret News in April. “That is really my only goal right now. I’m training so I can do my job, do what I can do so we can get a championship.”
Tight end Carson Terrell is on the same page.
“I really want to win the Mountain West championship,” Terrell explained earlier this month. “That would be really sweet. Since coach (Gary) Andersen has come back, I’ve seen the glimpse of what it was like, them winning the WAC (Western Athletic Conference). Winning a conference championship has become my motivation. I really want to win that. I think that would be really special and something that I would hold on to for the rest of my life.”
The Aggies have their work cut out for them if they want to accomplish that goal.
Tuesday, the league announced that Utah State has been picked to finish fourth in the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference this season.
Boise State was voted to win the division, garnering 20 first-place votes and 125 points overall. The Broncos went 8-0 in conference play last year and defeated Hawaii 31-10 in the conference championship game.
Wyoming, the preseason darling of many, was picked second in the division. The Cowboys were the only other division team to receive a first-place vote and finished with 90 points. Rounding out the Mountain Division was Air Force (86), Utah State (60), Colorado State (59) and New Mexico (21).
The Aggies return 13 starters (eight on offense, five on defense) from last year’s team that finished 7-6 overall. Chief among those returners are wide receiver/ kick returner Savon Scarver, who is just the third consensus All-American in school history. There is also safety Shaq Bond, who earned honorable mention all-Mountain West honors last year, as well as offensive lineman Demytrick Ali’ifua, nickel back Troy Lefeged Jr., wide receiver Jordan Nathan, defensive end Justus Te’i, Meitzenheimer and Terrell, among others.
San Diego State was picked to win the conference’s West Division title. The Aztecs received 19 first-place votes and 122 points overall. Nevada was picked to finish second, with two first-place votes and 100 points. Rounding out the West Division poll was Hawaii (74), Fresno State (73), San José State (43) and UNLV (29).