A year after making it to the national semifinals, Montana State is No. 1 in both the coaches and media Big Sky Conference preseason polls, released Monday morning at the conference’s annual media days.
The Bobcats received 10 of 12 first-place votes in the coaches poll and 26 of 39 from the media to comfortably take the top spots going into head coach Brent Vigen’s third season.
UC Davis and Sacramento State each received one first-place vote from the coaches and finished second and third, respectively. The Aggies missed the playoffs last season while the Hornets are replacing head coach Troy Taylor with former defensive coordinator Andy Thompson.
Another school with a new head coach was fourth in the coaches poll as Weber State took that spot narrowly over Idaho. Montana was sixth, and there was a big gap between the Grizzlies in sixth and Eastern Washington in seventh.
Portland State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Cal Poly and Idaho State brought up the rear in the coaches poll, in that order.
Idaho was the runner-up to Montana State in the media poll, with the Vandals getting eight first-place votes. Montana, in third, received two first-place votes from the media, and Sacramento State, in fourth, had three.
UC Davis was fifth in the media poll with Weber State sixth, and again there was a big gap between the sixth-place team and Eastern Washington in seventh. NAU and Portland State were flipped from the coaches poll with the Lumberjacks ahead of the Vikings, but the bottom three was once again Northern Colorado, Cal Poly and Idaho State, in that order.
Coaches’ Preseason Poll
1. Montana State (10) – 120
2. UC Davis (1) – 96
3. Sacramento State (1) – 94
4. Weber State – 91
5. Idaho – 89
6. Montana – 84
7. Eastern Washington – 52
8. Portland State – 45
9. Northern Arizona – 44
10. Northern Colorado – 37
11. Cal Poly – 25
12. Idaho State – 15
Media Preseason Poll
1. Montana State (26) – 447
2. Idaho (8) – 410
3. Montana (2) – 359
4. Sacramento State (3) – 334
5. UC Davis – 330
6. Weber State – 320
7. Eastern Washington – 216
8. Northern Arizona – 178
9. Portland State – 167
10. Northern Colorado – 109
11. Cal Poly – 103
12. Idaho State – 69
First-place votes in parentheses
