Fresno State, Boise State selected to meet in inaugural conference title game

Mountain West football media days are well underway in Las Vegas, and the media elected their preseason all-conference lineup and the league champions. Boise State is projected to win the Mountain Division while Fresno State is tabbed as the West Division champ.

The Broncos earned 40 of the possible 41 first-place votes -- Utah State earned the other -- while the Bulldogs claimed 39 out of 41, the other two votes went to San Diego State and San Jose State. With Fresno State losing out on a few first-place votes that allowed Boise State to out vote Fresno State by two votes, and be tabbed the preseason champion.

Boise State had just three players on the preseason all-conference team to Fresno State's seven, but as people know it takes more than individual talent to win and Boise State always has a very good overall team even when top flight talent may not be in town.

Seeing New Mexico at the bottom is a bit surprising since a bowl game is a possibility by some people, and the Lobos vote count puts them at 11 of 12 in the league and only earned a few more votes than Hawaii.

Here's the predicted order of finish in each division, with total votes and first-place votes in parentheses:

Mountain Division:

1. Boise State (40), 245
2. Utah State (1), 204
3. Air Force, 143
4. Wyoming, 116
5. Colorado State, 90
6. New Mexico, 63

West Division:

1. Fresno State (39), 243
2. San Diego State (1), 181
3. San Jose State (1), 172
4. Nevada, 135
5. UNLV, 71
6. Hawaii, 59

More from Mountain West Connection:

• Fresno State, Boise State selected to meet in inaugural conference title game
• 2013 Mountain West player rankings, No. 38: Fresno State CB L.J. Jones
• 2013 Mountain West preseason all-conference team announced
• Fresno State Non-Conference Preview: Colorado Buffaloes
• Mountain West media days: Predicting media polls