George Ferguson Column: Time for me to pick the loaded Frontier

It may be the second week in July, but football season, and in particular, Frontier Conference football season, isn't that far off.

In fact, the Montana State University-Northern Lights, under second-year head coach Aaron Christensen, will get to work Aug. 5 in preparation for their season opener Aug. 27 against Rocky Mountain College at Blue Pony Stadium.

With that said, it's certainly already time to start looking at the upcoming season.

As always, I will have my annual breakdown of the Frontier Conference in the coming weeks. Starting July 26, I will begin a series of stories featuring the top returning players at each position in the Frontier, We'll take a lot at the quarterbacks, the wide receivers/tight ends, offensive line, running backs, defensive line, linebackers, defensive backs and special teams.

The series will also include a story with updated bios on all of the coaches in the league, including new head coach Jason Petrino at RMC and Ryan Nourse at UM-Western.

Of course, we will also have extensive coverage of the Lights, starting with fall camp and leading up to the first game of the 2016 season. Our coverage will again this year include the Game Day issue for Northern's home games, as well as previews, stories and extensive postgame coverage from each and every Northern game this season. Fans of the entire Frontier Conference will also be able to find my weekly Frontier Conference Notebook every Thursday during the season.

And while my annual breakdown of the league is still a few weeks away, I thought it would be fun to try something new this summer, and that's to see how closely I can pick the league's upcoming Preseason Coaches Poll. That poll will be released in the first week of August, immediately following the Frontier Coaches Conference, which is held every summer in conjunction with the annual Montana Coaches Association Clinic in Great Falls.

So, to kickoff up the upcoming Frontier season, here's my own 2016 Frontier Conference Preseason Poll, and a brief explanation of why I ranked each team as I did.

1. Montana Tech: After winning the league title a year ago, it's hard to pick against the Orediggers. But being the defending regular season champions isn't the only reason I went with Tech. The Diggers are absolutely loaded with talent on both sides of the ball, and they've had the best recruiting classes in each of the last two seasons. Add to that Tech's appeal of an upgraded Alumni Coliseum, and the Diggers have the makings of not just being a true Frontier power, but a program that could certainly make a push to win an NAIA national championship - and perhaps as soon as this season.

2. Southern Oregon: While Tech won the regular season crown last season, SOU made the headlines by advancing to the NAIA title game for the second straight year. The Raiders did lose some key players from last year's squad, and they always have to negotiate a tough road schedule. However, Craig Howard's wide-open passing offense hasn't been stopped in the league since the Raiders joined five years ago, and it probably isn't going to slow down this season either.

3. Rocky Mountain College: It seems as though every year, the Battlin' Bears get off to a fast start and then fade. They did it last season, and while they graduated the league's most explosive receiver, Rocky may return a team that finally won't fade this season. A coaching change also shouldn't get in the way of Rocky making a playoff push this season, mainly because the Bears return a stout defense, and one of the league's best quarterbacks.

4. Carroll College: The Fighting Saints had a rough and rare season a year ago, going 4-6 on the year. I wouldn't pick Carroll to have back-to-back losing seasons, but with a new quarterback, a young offensive line, and still being unsettled at the RB position, Carroll's offense might not be strong enough to vault the Saints back into Frontier title contention in 2016.

5. UM-Western: The Bulldogs should have made the playoffs a year ago. They had one of the best seasons in recent school history, but they also lost head coach B.J. Robertson to the Bobcats. Former head man Ryan Nourse takes over a Western squad that is talented, but must replace too many key players on what was a great defense a year ago, so, with that defense maybe not as strong, the Bulldogs could slide back some this season.

6. Eastern Oregon: The Mounties have been a popular pick to move up the Frontier ranks in recent years, but they just can't seem to get over the hump. EOU returns an explosive offense, but tough road games and having to play both SOU and Tech twice will probably get in the way of the Mounties getting over the hump again this season.

7. MSU-Northern: The Lights have finished last the last two seasons in the Frontier, but Northern could be a team that surprises many this season. The Lights have arguably the best offensive player in the league in Zach McKinley, and the best defensive player in the league in Tyler Craig, and while they're still a young team overall, the Lights are on a mission to be better this season, and no matter what the record says in November, I think they'll accomplish that mission.

8. College of Idaho: Showing just how tough the Frontier is, if they finish last, the Yotes would probably be the best last-place team in the country. C of I has had some exciting wins in their first two years since bringing the dormant football program back, but they've also had some losses that any new program would expect to endure. That trend will probably continue this season, but C of I is still on the upswing, and there will come a time in the not-so-distant-furture that there won't be any possible way I'll be able to pick the Yotes to finish last in the Frontier. Instead, there will come a time when I might just be picking them to win the league - that's how good things are going and will continue to go for the program.