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STAR-ADVERTISER / APR. 2015
UH quarterback Max Wittek, left.
LAS VEGAS >> The University of Hawaii football team is predicted to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference’s six-team West Division, according to a poll the conference released Tuesday at its media day.
San Diego State is predicted to finish first in the West. Defending MWC champion Boise State is picked to win the Mountain Division.
“That’s a little disappointing,” said UH left tackle Ben Clarke, who is representing the Warriors at the annual meet-the-press event. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a prediction. We’ll show ’em.”
Clarke said the predictions are based largely on past performances. The Warriors were 4-9 in 2014 and 8-29 in Norm Chow’s first three seasons as head coach.
“We haven’t had a good record for the past three years, so I can’t blame anyone for guessing we’re going to be second-to-last in the (division),” Clarke said. “I think we have a lot better team this year. We’ll show them what we have.”
UH quarterback Max Wittek, who redshirted last year after transferring from USC, said it would be “more of an outlandish thing if they were to put us higher based on what’s happened in the past few years. For us, at least myself, we’d almost rather have it that way. I think the less people think of us, the more we can prove them wrong. I think we can look forward to each and every opportunity to do that.”
West Division
1. San Diego State (27 first-place votes) — 177 points
2. Fresno State (3) — 141
3. Nevada — 113
4. San Jose State — 91
5. Hawaii — 70
6. UNLV 38
Mountain Division
1. Boise State (28) — 177
2. Utah State (2) — 150
3. Colorado State — 108
4. Air Force — 90
5. Wyoming — 64
6. New Mexico — 41
