Nevada's fourth place projected finish provides motivation for team

The Nevada Wolf Pack were picked to finish fourth place in the West Division, and that was not popular with defensive lineman Jordan Hanson. Teams ahead of Nevada are Fresno State, San Jose State and San Diego State.

Hanson let his frustration out about being extremely upset over being projected so low:

"To me, it p***es me off," Hanson, a junior tackle for Nevada, said at the conference's annual media day event at the Cosmopolitan Hotel-Casino on Monday. "I'm pretty sure it p***es everyone on the team off."

[...]

"It gives us fuel going into camp," Hanson added. "You never want to be complacent. I think something like this shakes up a lot of guys in their minds. Everyone's counting us out. In my mind, that's a pretty good place to be because you can shock the world. I'd rather be the underdog."

Being projected fourth better light a fire under those players who think they were this great team, but now they have this bulletin board material to prove themselves to be better than the projected fourth place spot.

The offense led behind quarterback Cody Fajardo running the pistol offense, and they have Brandon Wimberly plus whatever running backs they plug into the pistol offense. The defense is the issue and Hanson needs to uplift his unit to perform better if Nevada wants to finish better than fourth in the West Division.

More from Mountain West Connection:

• 10 Things to Watch this Colorado State Season
• MWC Media Days: Media had predicted correct champion just six times
• PODCAST: Recapping Mountain West football media days
• Derek Carr played all of 2012 hurt
• San Diego State has goal to make a BCS game