BUTTE — College of Idaho's football program, a season after advancing to the NAIA national semifinals, is the early favorite to win the Frontier Conference in 2024.
The Yotes came in first place in the Frontier's preseason coaches poll, which was released during the league's virtual media day on Thursday. C of I finished with 63 points and seven first-place votes.
The Frontier Conference released its preseason football coaches poll this afternoon and at the top is the College of Idaho coming off a run to the national semifinals last season. In second place, conference champ Montana Western, followed by SOU, Tech and Carroll. #mtscores pic.twitter.com/er1KrV9Ev5
— Luke Shelton (@lukeshelton_mtn) August 8, 2024
The Yotes, who eventually fell to Kaiser University (Fla.) in the semis, had a chance to lock up at least share of the Frontier Conference title in the regular-season finale last year. But a road loss to Southern Oregon paired with a Montana Western victory over Eastern Oregon enabled the Bulldogs to emerge as outright conference champions for the first time since 1994.
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll with 57 points and one first-place vote. Western concluded the 2023 regular season on an eight-game win streak but its campaign was ultimately book-ended by a pair of losses to the Yotes — a 37-35 Week 2 defeat in Caldwell on a Hail Mary, and a 49-42 loss in Dillon during the second round of the playoffs.
Southern Oregon came in third-place in the poll with 43 points following a 6-4 campaign including its upset win over a then-No. 5 C of I team in the final week of the regular season.
Montana Tech took fourth place with 43 points. The 2023 season saw Tech end the regular season on a three-game win streak and punch its first ticket to the playoffs since 2016. The Orediggers season ended with a home loss to Dickinson State in the opening round.
In fifth place was Carroll College (37 points), which entered the final week of the regular season against Tech with an identical 7-2 record, setting the stage for a de facto playoff game, with the winner still holding a shot at earning an at-large bid. Then No. 22 Tech held on for the 23-17 win over the then No. 16 Saints and would go on to become the Frontier's third representative in the postseason.
Rocky Mountain College took sixth place in the poll (36 points) following a season where the Battlin' Bears dropped three straight games in the middle of the season but then concluded its campaign on a three-game win streak.
Eastern Oregon was seventh with 23 points followed by Arizona Christian with 15. MSU Northern rounded out the poll in ninth place with 8 points.
