FRESNO. – The Mountain West released the 2017 football season's predicted order of finish on Tuesday morning, prior to its two-day media summit getting underway. Fresno State was picked to finish sixth in the West Division by the media. The' Dogs are looking to bounce back from a 1-11 season in 2016 under first-year head coach Jeff Tedford in 2017.
Fresno State's new leader brings a wealth of experience, having left Cal as its all-time winningest coach in program history with 82 wins in his 11 seasons from 2002-12. All this for a program that won one game prior to his arrival in 2001 that was quickly turned around into a 7-5 mark in his first year guiding the Golden Bears,
Fresno State returns 39 lettermen from its 2016 squad, which includes 18 starters. Over the past two weeks, three of those individuals were named to national preseason watch lists. Senior center Aaron Mitchell was named to the Reminington Award watch list on July 11, senior kicker Kody Kroening was named to the Lou Groza Award watch list on July 12 and junior wide receiver KeeSean Johnson was named to the Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List on July 18.
In addition to the conference announcing the predicted order of finish, the Mountain West all-conference preseason team was released with no Bulldogs on the roster for the second-straight season.
Last year after having missed the league's preseason team, the Bulldogs had three tabbed all-conference selections at the end of the season – Jeff Camilli (second-team all-MW), Stratton Brown (honorable mention), Johnson (honorable mention) and Kroening (honorable mention).
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
WEST DIVISION
Rank | Team (first-place votes | Points |
1. | San Diego State (28) | 168 |
2. | Hawai'i | 135 |
3. | UNLV | 105 |
4. | Nevada | 79 |
5. | San Jose State | 54 |
6. | Fresno State | 47 |
MOUNTAIN DIVISION
Rank | Team (first-place votes) | Points |
1. | Boise State (21) | 161 |
2. | Colorado State (6) | 135 |
3. | Wyoming (1) | 114 |
4. | Air Force | 82 |
5. | New Mexico | 68 |
6. | Utah State | 28 |
"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160