Rams picked to finish fourth in final MWC football season

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRESEASON POLL

Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, left, runs the ball into the end zone for a touchdown against Utah State on Nov. 29 in Fort Collins. REBECCA SLEZAK — SPECIAL TO THE DENVER POST

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By Nathan Wright

nwright@prairiemountainmedia.com

Colorado State has been picked to finish fourth in its final season of football in the Mountain West Conference.

The Rams, who will join the Pac-12 next season, collected 326 points in the preseason poll voted on by a panel of media members. The poll was announced Wednesday at the league’s annual media days event in Las Vegas.

For the 15th straight season, Boise State was picked to win the conference title. The Broncos received 35 of the 39 first-place votes in the poll and totaled 464 points.

The Broncos claimed the 2024 regular-season conference title and won last year’s Mountain West football championship game, finishing the season ranked inside the top 10 in the College Football Playoff, Associated Press and US LBM Coaches polls. They earned the No. 3 seed in the inaugural 12-team CFP field after going 12-2 overall and 7-0 in Mountain West play last season, earning a bye into the CFP quarterfinals and taking on Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.

For the second straight year, UNLV was picked second in the preseason poll, picking up the four remaining first-place votes and 415 points. The Rebels, who faced Boise State in the conference championship game for the second straight season in 2024, went 11-3 overall (6-1 MW) and finished last season ranked in the top 25 in the CFP, Associated Press and US LBM Coaches polls. The Rebels downed California in the Art of Sport LA Bowl.

San José State was third in the preseason poll with 359 points, followed by CSU with 326 points. Fresno State was fifth with 301 points, Air Force sixth with 280, Hawaii seventh with 213 and San Diego State eighth with 202. Utah State (165 points), Wyoming (150), New Mexico (84) and Nevada (83) round out the poll.

CSU is coming off a season in which the Rams went 8-5 overall and 6-1 in the Mountain West. The Rams made their first bowl appearance since 2017, losing to Miami (Ohio) in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, 43-17.

Media also selected a preseason all-conference team, though CSU players were represented.

Boise State junior quarterback Maddux Madsen was selected as the preseason offensive player of the year, while San Diego State junior edge Trey White was picked as the defensive player of the year. Aztecs senior placekicker Gabe Plascencia was voted the league’s special teams player of the year.

Madsen led the Mountain West with 3,018 passing yards and 23 passing touchdowns last season and was second in the league with a 142.5 passing efficiency. White was fourth nationally in both sacks per game (1.04) and tackles for loss per game (1.5), and he totaled 18.5 tackles for loss, good for seventh in the FBS and 13th in program history. His 12.5 sacks ranked fifth in FBS and tied for third in a season in SDSU history.

Plascencia led the Mountain West and ranked ninth in the FBS with a school-record 92.9% field-goal conversion clip. He went 13-for-14 on field-goal tries in his first season as the Aztecs’ primary kicker, converting his final 12 attempts, including a pair from 40-plus yards.

Boise State led the way with 10 preseason all-conference selections. No other school had more than three, and every school except CSU had at least one player selected.