George Ferguson Column: It's finally time to go in the Frontier Conference

The 2014 Frontier Conference football season is upon us. Actually, it’s already started as last weekend UM-Western smashed Montana Tech 38-6 in Dillon, while Eastern Oregon beat Menlo College 38-6.

But the real fun starts this weekend as everybody gets into the act. The Montana State University-Northern Lights make their highly-anticipated season debut at a reeling Montana Tech Saturday night in Butte. Saturday night’s game at Alumni Coliseum is the only Frontier matchup on the schedule this weekend, but most teams make their season debut, with the exception of No. 2 Carroll, which won’t play 11 games this season, and opens at Southern Oregon next Saturday.

In nonconference games this weekend, Southern Oregon makes its season debut at Menlo, while No. 9 Rocky Mountain College travels to Dickinson State. A year ago, that matchup was a conference game, but the Blue Hawks are now part of the new Northstar Athletic Conference. And finally, the 1-0 UM-Western Bulldogs will take their shot at immortality, as they travel to Cheney, Washington, to face Eastern Washington, the No. 2 team in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. EWU is already 1-0 and is picked to win the Big Sky Conference for a third straight season, so the Bulldogs will be playing in a different class when they hit the red turf of Roos Field Saturday. Like Carroll, Eastern Oregon (1-0) is off this week.

So, we’re off and running in what promises to be a thrilling year in the Frontier. Every week, I’ll have my Frontier Conference Notebook running Thursday’s with all the league football news I can get my hands on. And to start the year off, I’ve made a few predictions. Included in this column is my Week One Frontier Power Rankings, as well as my own Frontier Preseason All-Conference Team. I also have SOU’s Austin Dodge as my pick for Frontier Offensive MVP and Carroll’s Sean Blomquist as the Defensive MVP. Yes, I didn’t go out on a real big limb there.

And while I’m not willing to pick who is going to win the league title this season, I will say, it’s going to be a season full of twists and turns, and a few surprises, too. So sit back, and enjoy the ride. I know I will.

2014 Havre Daily News Preseason

Frontier All-Conference Team

Offense

QB – Austin Dodge, SOU, 6-3, 210, Sr.

QB – Bryce Baker, RMC, 6-3, 215, Sr.

RB – Dustin Rinker, CC, 5-10, 205, Sr.

RB – Zach McKinley, MSU-N, 5-10, 205, So.

OL – Drew Gibson, SOU, 6-6, 280, Sr.

OL – Ryan Armstrong, CC, 6-4, 295, Jr.

OL – Dylan Murphy, MSU-N, 6-6, 310, Jr.

OL – Max Proudfit, SOU, 6-2, 290, Jr.

OL – Will Thacker, UM-W, 6-1, 290, Jr.

OL – Shomari Burton, MSU-N, 6-3, 305, Sr.

OL – Alex Kastens, CC, 6-2, 280, Sr.

WR – Andre McCullough, RMC, 6-1, 195, Jr.

WR – Ryan Retzlaff, SOU, 6-0, 190, Sr.

WR – Jace Billingsley, EOU, 5-9, 185, Jr.

WR – Matt Retzlaff, SOU, 5-11, 185, So.

TE – John Jansen, MSU-N, 6-3, 240, Sr.

P – Rhys Felton, CC, 6-3, 200, Jr.

Defense

DL – Sean Condon, CC, 6-3, 250, Sr.

DL – Bryan Graupman, CC, 6-3, 231, Sr.

DL – Kyle Lanoue, EOU, 6-1, 260, Jr.

DL – Phil Selin, UM-W, 6-2, 235, Sr.

DL – Tyler Craig, MSU-N, 6-2, 230, So.

LB – Sean Blomquist, CC, 5-11, 230, Sr.

LB – Ryan Watson, EOU, 6-0, 200, Sr.

LB – Mike Touzinksy, TECH, 6-3, 212, Sr.

LB – A.J. Wilson, UM-W, 6-1, 240, Jr.

DB – James Dowgin, CC, 6-2, 190, Jr.

DB – Jess McCloud, UM-W, 6-1, 195, Sr.

DB – Kyle Mai, RMC, 5-11, 190, Jr.

DB – Andre Cornell, TECH, 6-0, 180, Sr.

K – Connor Smith, CC, 5-10, 175, So.