Preseason college football ratings might not mean a whole lot, but they do provide a revealing glimpse at perceptions.
And the prevailing one heading into this season is that the West Division is the Mountain West Conference’s weak sister.
Again.
If you are the University of Hawaii, that is encouraging. For as imposing as the opening gauntlet that includes Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boise State — Top 25 teams all — is, the MWC’s West Division can be the a season saver.
Remember last year when UH was 3-4 in the conference and still in the divisional title hunt until the final weekend of the regular season? Nobody should be surprised if a similar situation unfolds again this year.
There are eight divisions among the mid and low major conferences that make up Division I (the 11-team Sun Belt does not currently have divisions) and if the MWC West isn’t the most lowly regarded, it is definitely in the neighborhood.
USA Today and CBS Sports each listed the teams that will play on the FBS level this season from 1 to 128, and when you average the rankings of the teams that make up the divisions, the MWC West, Mid-American East and Conference USA West line up as the least imposing.
For example, USA Today and CBS Sports rank the division members this way: San Diego State (48/63), Nevada (80/92), Fresno State (97/96), San Jose State (101/110), UH (105/119) and Nevada-Las Vegas (126/118).
It probably isn’t surprising when you consider the six teams in the MWC West went a combined 8-34 against Football Bowl Subdivision teams outside the division in 2014. That includes 5-14 against much superior MWC Mountain Division opponents.
Small wonder, perhaps, that in the offseason the conference discussed a proposal that would have allowed the MWC Championship game to bypass the West Division champion, if the second place finisher in the Mountain Division had a better record.
The concept did not go forward, but you can understand where the argument came from when the Mountain Division had four teams finish the postseason with 10 — or more — victories and only two West Division teams managed winning records, San Diego State and Nevada, at 7-6. The West Division champion, Fresno State, finished 6-8, saving the loudest thud for the 30-6 Hawaii Bowl blowout by Rice.
Nor have many of the West teams substantially upgraded since season’s end as reports emerge from other divisional opponent training camps suggest. This is especially true at quarterback, where it is noteworthy that UH’s Max Wittek, who redshirted last year after transferring from USC, was named the conference preseason pick at quarterback by Phil Steele.
Which brings us back to the UH schedule. If the ‘Bows are able to emerge from visits to Columbus, Ohio; Madison, Wis.; and Boise, Idaho, without exhausting their Hawaii Pacific Heath trade agreement, what awaits them beginning Oct. 10, when they step into divisional play, can be worth waiting for.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
