Nevada Football: Pack picked to finish fourth in West Division

In the first year of the Ken Wilson era, the Nevada Wolf Pack football team has been picked to finish fourth in the West Division, the conference announced Wednesday.

The last time the Pack were projected to finish fourth was in 2018; it’s the team’s lowest ranking in the conference’s divisional history (since 2013).

Nevada’s projected to finish behind Fresno State, San Diego State and San Jose State, while getting picked to finish ahead of UNLV and Hawai’i. Fresno State was picked to win the division for the first time since 2019, earning 20 of the 28 first-place votes — the other eight going to San Diego State.

In the Mountain Division, Boise State earned 14 first-place votes; Air Force earned 10 first-place votes, their most since the conference began in 1999 and their first time receiving first-place votes since 2016; Utah State — the defending champs — earned three while Colorado State earned one, respectively. Wyoming and New Mexico were projected to finish last and second-to-last.

Last year, Nevada was picked to finish first with 19 first-place votes. Losing three Mountain West contests by two-plus points, consequently, it finished third at 8-5 and missed out on a Mountain West title berth with back-to-back Mountain West offensive player of the year Carson Strong, Cole Turner and Romeo Doubs.

Wilson will return just six starters — four on defense and two on offense — including a new face behind center. They return the lowest production in the nation, according to ESPN.