Frontier Conference football preseason coaches poll released

GREAT FALLS - Like all things in 2020, the Frontier Conference football season had to adjust in many ways. One of those adjustments was having last year's media day on Zoom. As things slowly get back to normal, so does Frontier Conference football with a media day held in person at the Holiday Inn in Great Falls Tuesday as well as a full-conference schedule this fall.

On the media day, the Frontier Conference Coaches Preseason Poll was released. The coaches' favorite to win the conference this season is Eastern Oregon University which had 39 points and three first-place votes. On the other end of the list was Montana State University-Northern, picked to place last after only recording eight points.

As he heads into his fourth season as the MSU-N head coach, Andrew Rolin is more focused on the actual games this season than preseason predictions.

"It's a piece of paper to me," Rolin said. "What we do next moving forward each day, that's what really counts."

MSU-N was picked to place last after finishing 0-4 in the Frontier Conference this past spring. The Lights were one of five Frontier Conference teams to play in the shortened spring season while Southern Oregon, Montana Western and Montana Tech have not played a down since 2019. Even though those teams were picked to finish ahead of MSU-N, Rolin believes the spring games they played will prove beneficial in the fall.

"It gave us four more games of experience which we needed," Rolin said. "I think it is an advantage. The more game-time experience you get the better team you're going to be."

Eastern Oregon was picked to win the Frontier this season after they went 3-1 in the spring to tie for the conference championship. College of Idaho and Montana Western tied for second in the preseason poll with 36 points. College of Idaho earned two first-place votes after a spring season that saw them go 3-1 to tie for the conference title. Montana Western earned one first-place vote even though they have not played since 2019 when they went 7-3 in the conference.

In third place in the poll was Carroll College with 33 points after finishing tied for the conference title in the spring with a 3-1 record. In fourth was Southern Oregon with 30 points who will soon be playing their first football games since the 2019 season where they finished 4-6 in conference play.

Even though they received two first-place votes, Montana Tech was picked to place fifth with their 26 points. The Orediggers, led by MSU-N alumni Kyle Samson as head coach, finished 6-4 the last time they played in 2019. In sixth place just ahead of MSU-N was Rocky Mountain College with 15 points after their 1-3 finish in the spring.

Before the preseason poll was released Tuesday, the head coaches from every Frontier Conference team except for Southern Oregon went up to the podium. Each coach talked about their prospects for the upcoming season and where they are at as a program. When he went up to the podium, College of Idaho head coach Mike Moroski made sure to mention the huge hire the Lights made recently when they got Mike Van Diest, a six-time national champion as Carroll College's head coach, to be their new defensive coordinator.

"He's one of the best coaches I've ever coached against and I know Northern's defense will be ten times more effective," Moroski said.

When Rolin got to the podium, he talked about how huge the Van Diest hire was to the MSU-N program and to him.

"I respect him more than anybody I've ever coached against," Rolin said. "He's a guy that I knew I'd always either want to learn from or have on my staff and I have the opportunity to have both right now and I'm really grateful and blessed to have him."

Over the course of his time at the podium, he talked about both old and new assistant coaches at Northern. He also talked about the status of his roster from his defensive line to his kickers. He also mentioned that there will be a four-way quarterback competition for the starting spot this fall. He made note of transfer quarterback Kaymen Cureton, who is coming over from Eastern Kentucky. While Rolin believes Cureton has a lot of potential, he believes any of the quarterbacks on his roster can win the starting role.

"He's got an extremely talented arm. He's shown the ability to escape the pocket and use his feet and run a little bit. He's a great athlete," Rolin said about Cureton. "But we got three other guys that are there to compete for the job too and all willing and able to do it, so it's going to be a fun competition."

At media day, Rolin made sure to mention that it is the time for the Lights to make the next step this season. But regardless of how the season turns out, Rolin is happy for the chance to play a full conference season this fall after everything the past year and a half.

"Getting the chance to compete against all these guys I think is a big deal," Rolin said. "To be back and to do what we're doing right now, it's exciting and (I'm) extremely grateful."

Northern will begin the season at Lights Stadium against the College of Idaho Aug. 28 at 1 p.m.

2021 Frontier Conference Preseason Coaches Poll

Eastern Oregon (3) 39 points

College of Idaho (2) 36 points

Montana Western (1) 36 points

Carroll College 33 points

Southern Oregon 30 points

Montana Tech (2) 26 points

Rocky Mountain 15 points

MSU-Northern 8 points