Tech picked to win the 2017 Frontier title

The Montana Tech Orediggers captured the 2016 Frontier Conference football championship. Tuesday, the league's coaches picked the 'Diggers of head coach Chuck Morrell to do it again.

The 2017 Frontier Football Media Day was held in Great Falls Tuesday afternoon, where the league announced its 2017 Preseason Coaches Poll. Tech received five first-place votes and 47 points overall to finish atop the poll.

Meanwhile, the Montana State University-Northern Lights, now under third-year head coach Aaron Christensen, were picked to finish last among the eight league teams. Northern has won just one Frontier Conference game in the last two seasons, as the Lights beat Carroll College last fall at Blue Pony Stadium. MSU-N received nine points in the poll Tuesday.

"When you loo at how we did last season, we had a tough season," Christensen said. "We had four seniors on the whole football team. But I know that from the first game to the last game we got better, and from the last game to this spring we got better. So we have a football program that's moving in the right direction."

While Montana Tech topped the poll, and Northern was at the bottom, the league as a whole will once again be ultra-competitive.

Despite heavy losses to graduation, Eastern Oregon was picked second. The Mounties made a run all the way to the NAIA national semifinals a season ago. Southern Oregon returns a ton of talent and garnered three first-place votes in the poll, but the Raiders have a new head coach in Charlie Hall, who takes over for the late Craig Howard, who passed last year.

The rest of the poll includes Carroll College also at third with SOU. The Fighting Saints are coming off of back-to-back 4-6 seasons. UM-Western, which finished third a year ago, is picked fifth, while College of Idaho and Rocky Mountain College were picked tied sixth.

The Frontier football season begins Aug. 26, while the Lights open the season Sept. 2 at RMC.Northern begins fall camp in just a few days.

2017 Frontier Football Preseason

Coaches Poll

1. Montana Tech (5) 47

2. Eastern Oregon 36

T3. Southern Oregon (3) 33

T3. Carroll College 33

5. UM-Western 27

T6. College of Idaho 17

T6. Rocky Mountain 17

8. MSU-Northern 9