Aggies picked second in preseason Big Sky football Coaches Poll

Media Poll picks UCD third, Montana State tops both polls

Surprise, surprise, Montana State has been picked to win the Big Sky Conference football title once again in both the Coaches Poll and the Media Poll.

UC Davis was second in the Coaches Poll and third, behind Montana, in the Media Poll.

The Aggies received one first-place vote among 12 cast in the Coaches Poll and four first-place votes among 42 cast in the Media Poll. (My vote was one of the four first-place ballots cast for UC Davis. My entire slate is listed below.)

Other schools receiving at least one first place vote in either poll were Montana, Idaho, Northern Arizona and Sacramento State.

Montana State, which received 30 first-place votes from the media and seven from the league's head coaches, won the Big Sky championship last season with an 8-0 mark and was 15-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation before dropping a 35-32 decision to North Dakota State in the FCS national championship game last January in Frisco, Texas.

The Aggies were second in the Big Sky at 7-1, the only loss coming in a 30-28 setback to Montana State. The two will meet again November 15 in a late-season showdown in Bozeman that will be nationally televised by ESPN2.

Some folks may regard these polls as a fool's errand, but they are nevertheless quite common and give every head coach an angle or a hook to take to team meetings before the season begins.