Carroll picked to win Frontier football title

It isn’t often over the last nearly two decades that the Carroll College Fighting Saints weren’t picked to win the Frontier Conference championship at the start of a new season.

And the 2015 campaign, which is now just a month away, is no different.

On Tuesday afternoon, the league released its 2015 Preseason Coaches Poll, and the Fighting Saints of head coach Mike Van Diest, topped the list. Carroll won the league title over eventual national champion Southern Oregon a year ago. The Saints went 9-1 in league play, but lost to the 8-2 Raiders in the NAIA quarterfinals last November in Helena.

Still, the league’s coaches agreed that the Saints are the favorite to win it all again in 2015 as Carroll garnered 47 points and five of the eight first-place votes in the poll. SOU, which will set out to defend its national title this fall, finished second in the poll with 44 points and three first-place votes.

“They’re loaded,” Carroll coach Mike Van Diest said of Southern Oregon. “And everybody’s got so many returning players, but we’ve got Mac Roche coming back (at quarterback) and I feel very good about Mac.”

As for the Montana State University-Northern Lights, who will make their season debut Aug. 22 at Dickinson State, they garnered just 10 points in the poll, which placed them last among the eight Frontier teams. Northern went 2-8 in league play and 3-8 overall, but the Lights finished on a high note, upsetting Rocky Mountain College in Billings on the final day of the regular season.

Still, there is a lot of unknowns as the Lights enter their first season under head coach Aaron Christensen. Northern has perhaps the best running back in the NAIA in junior Zach McKinley, but the Lights will have fresh faces throughout their lineup this season, including at quarterback.

Eastern Oregon is picked to finish third in the league this season. The Mounties started strong and finished strong in 2014, finishing at 7-3 in league, and they ended the season with a No. 13 national ranking. EOU was certainly deserving of a playoff bid a year ago, and with experience back at key positions, EOU should be a force this fall.

Optimism is also high in Dillon. The Bulldogs got off to a fast start, but slumped late in the season, and the coaches picked them fifth in the preseason poll just behind Rocky Mountain College. The Battlin’ Bears were another team that started the season red-hot but fell off the pace late in the year. In fact, RMC lost its last four games of 2014, and now head coach Brian Armstrong must replace four-year starting quarterback Bryce Baker.

The College of Idaho, which enters its second season in the Frontier, was picked to finish sixth. The Yotes, who went 4-8 a season, are tied with Montana Tech in the preseason poll, each garnering 16 points.

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. First place was worth seven points, second place worth six points, third place worth five points, fourth place worth four points, fifth place worth three points, sixth place worth two points and seventh place worth one point.

The Frontier season begins with two games Aug. 29. The Lights open their season with a non-conference game at Dickinson State Aug. 22, and they open the Frontier schedule Sept. 5 at home against Montana Tech.

2015 Frontier Conference Preseason Coaches Poll

Carroll College (5) 47 points

Southern Oregon (3)44 points

Eastern Oregon 36 points

Rocky Mountain 28 points

Montana Western 27 points

College of Idaho 16 points

Montana Tech 16 points

MSU-Northern 10 points