Kelly Lyell

kellylyell@coloradoan.com

LAS VEGAS — Two years after a 10-win season, expectations for the CSU football program from outside observers have dropped significantly despite the Rams’ appearance in a third straight bowl game last season.

Colorado State University was picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West’s six-team Mountain Division in a preseason media poll released Tuesday at the start of the conference’s football media days at The Cosmopolitan.

Senior guard Fred Zerblis and senior punter Hayden Hunt were the only CSU players selected to the preseason all-conference team. Hunt shared the top spot at punter with San Jose State junior Michael Carrizosa. Hunt and Carrizosa were finalists for the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter a year ago.

Zerblis is a key player on what should be a strong offensive line, second-year CSU coach Mike Bobo said. And Hunt, he said, “is a weapon for us, the way he can flip the field.”

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Bobo wasn’t surprised to see where his Rams were picked to finish in a division that has had three different champions — Air Force, Boise State and Utah State — since the league split into two divisions in 2013. He’s more concerned about how his team prepares for the upcoming season and how it will react to wins and losses during the course of the year.

“The bottom line is you’ve got to ignore the noise outside your program and control what you can control, and that’s how you go about your business every day,” Bobo said.

“… Every year, your goal is to win your side, the Mountain, play for the conference championship and hopefully win that, and then go to a bowl game and then win that bowl game,” Bobo said. “Those are our goals year in and year out.”

Boise State was picked to win the Mountain Division title and defending champion San Diego State earned the nod in the West Division from the panel of 29 media members. The division champions will meet Dec. 3 in the Mountain West’s championship game, hosted by the division winner ranked the highest by the College Football Playoff committee.

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CSU went 7-6 last fall in Bobo’s first season as coach and finished in a four-way tie for second place in the Mountain Division with Boise State, New Mexico and Utah State — all 5-3 in league play and one game behind division champion Air Force.

“It’s a very competitive division,” Bobo said. “I think anybody can beat anybody on any given day. A lot of it is going to be played out throughout the season.”

The Rams played in the inaugural Arizona Bowl in Tucson last season, where they lost 28-23 to fellow MW member Nevada. CSU played in the New Mexico Bowl in 2013 to cap an 8-6 season and the Las Vegas Bowl in 2014 to finish 10-3.

CSU received 95 points in the preseason poll voting, good for fourth place in the Mountain Division behind Boise State (172), Air Force (126) and Utah State (111) and ahead of New Mexico (74) and Wyoming (31).

“If anything, it’s used as motivation,” CSU tight end Nolan Peralta said. “The guys that decide those lineups; they’re not in our weight room, they’re not on our practice field, they don’t know the work we’ve been putting in. We know what we have. We know how successful we can be.”

San Diego State, which returns the league’s offensive (Donnel Pumphrey), defensive (Damontae Kazee) and special-teams (Rashaad Penny) players of the year, was a unanimous pick to win the West with 174 points. Nevada (129) was second, followed by San Jose State (122), Fresno State (76), UNLV (73) and Hawaii (35).

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Pumphrey, Kazee and Penny were all selected to repeat as conference players of the year.

CSU opens the 2016 season Sept. 2 in Denver against the University of Colorado. Practices begin Aug. 4.

“Each team is different,” Bobo said. “There’s a different identity, there’s different leadership, there’s a different feel.

“Do I know exactly where we are yet as a team? No. That’s what camp’s for. That’s what we’re about to go through for the next month, to see how we come together.”

Preseason Media Poll

Mountain Division

Boise State (27) Air Force (2) Utah State CSU New Mexico Wyoming

West Division

San Diego State (29) Nevada San Jose State Fresno State UNLV Hawaii

Preseason All-MW team

Offense

QB – Brett Rypien, so., Boise State

WR – Thomas Sperbeck, sr., Boise State

WR – Devonte Boyd, jr., UNLV

RB – Donnel Pumphrey, sr., San Diego State

RB – Brian Hill, jr., Wyoming

OL – Fred Zerblis, sr., CSU

OL – Nico Stargusa, sr., San Diego State

OL – Jake Simonich, sr., Utah State

OL – Austin Stephens, sr., Utah State

OL – Chase Roullier, sr., Wyoming

TE – Billy Freeman, sr., San Jose State

Defense

DL – Nik D’Avanzo, sr., New Mexico

DL – Alex Barrett, sr., San Diego State

DL – Travis Seefeldt, sr., Utah State

DL – Ricky Ali-ifua, sr., Utah State

LB – Christian Tago, sr., San Jose State

LB – Calvin Munson, sr., San Diego State

LB – Dakota Cox, sr., New Mexico

DB – Weston Steelhammer, sr., Air Force

DB – Damontae Kazee, sr., San Diego State

DB – Dameon Baber, so., Nevada

DB – Andrew Wingard, so., Wyoming

Specialists

P – Hayden Hunt, sr., CSU,

and Michael Carrizosa, jr., San Jose State

K – Tyler Rausa, jr., Boise State

Ret. – Rashaad Penny, jr., San Diego State

Players of the year

Offense — Donnel Pumphrey, sr., RB, San Diego State

Defense – Damontae Kazee, sr., CB, San Diego State

Special teams – Rashaad Perry, jr., KR, San Diego State