Do preseason rankings really mean anything?

Football season is right around the corner for college and high school and in the NFL, pre-season has already started.  Prior to the first kickoff, media, coaches, and fans alike will gather to determine who is the early favorite to “win it all”.

This is where the debate begins.  Big Sky Conference released their media and coach’s polls with both polls picking the University of Montana Grizzlies as pre-season conference title holders.  The media tabbed Montana State University Bobcats as second and Sacramento State Hornets to finish third.  The coaches swapped and put Sac State in second and MT State in third. Picking the Griz is always an easy choice and Coach Bobby Hauck always has his team ready to play and will have them towards the top of the national rankings. However…..do I need to remind you that MSU played  for the National Title last year?  In the title game, the Bobcats looked good early in the game but fell quickly after losing their young quarterback.  What ever happened to showing respect for previous performance?

The Frontier Conference has also released their coach’s polls and has Montana Western at the top with 4 first place votes.  Projected to finish second is Carroll College with 3 first place votes and then Rocky Mountain College and College of Idaho. First game of the season is a doozy with Carroll hosting Western on August 27^th. Montana Tech won the Frontier Conference title last year 62-61 over Carroll College.

There are no polls released for high school, so the debate happens at each watering hole in each respective town.  That makes it easy because at the Driftwood in Cascade, the Badgers are favored to win it all this year, but at the Clubhouse in Fort Benton…. You know it is all Longhorns this year!  Best of luck to your team. No matter what level they play at.