2011 Mountain West Media Days preview, picks, and pants questions

The Mountain West kicks off its annual media preview tomorrow with the release of preseason predictions, the airing of grievances by Craig Thompson, and the interviewing of players and coaches from each of the eight conference teams, yes even New Mexico and Mike Locksley. It should be fun, especially if someone got Greg McMackin to emcee.

Today is about previewing the event, so join me after the jump for times and dates for Boise State's pressers, details on fan interaction, and homerific picks by the OBNUG staff. As if we are capable of any other kind. Feel free to leave your picks in the comments.

The Mountain West wants you ... to ask Gary Patterson about his pants

Boise State's new conference is so 21st century that it is letting fans submit questions to the coaches and players in attendance - questions that may actually be asked, provided they are coherent and not full of double entendre. Best of all, if the Mountain West moderators pick your question, you win a copy of Lindy's college football preview magazine. Consider yourself incentivized.

The Mountain West was also kind enough to post a list of all its press conferences, each of which will air live on their website. Chris Petersen, Kellen Moore, George Iloka will be at the podium tomorrow from 4:45 to 5:00 MT, the last presser of the day. The full schedule is available at the MWC Media Days hub.

Moore and Iloka will be doing a live chat from 3:30 to 3:45 MT at the Mountain West website.

On Wednesday morning, Craig Thompson delivers his state of the conference address from 9:00 to 10:00 MT. Tune in to see if the Dish Network is ever going to get The Mtn. and if Utah State is ever going to join the conference and if Thompson's hair ever moves. 

Predictions

The Mountain West's official picks for preseason players of the year and preseason standings should be fairly obvious. Boise State will be the preseason favorite, and the only drama will be seeing which members of the media and which coaches vote otherwise. Kellen Moore will be preseason offensive player of the year. TCU linebacker Tank Carder will be the defensive POY. Yawn. How about we spice things up with the official OBNUG staff picks? I'll let Drew go first. You'll see he is a very rational person.

1. Boise State
2. TCU
3. Air Force
4. San Diego State
5. Wyoming
6. Colorado State
7. UNLV
8. New Mexico

Offensive POY - Kellen Moore - Do I really need to put rationale for this one? Moore will, by year's end, be the winningest quarterback in NCAA history. He doesn't have Krazy Legs Kaepernick or even Andy Dalton to contend with. He's a lock. Doug Martin, Ryan Lindley, and Ronnie Hillman will all receive votes.

Defensive POY - Tank Carder - I'd love to put a Bronco here, but the voters seem to have it bad for Mr. Armband. Carder will be the best player on one of the best Ds in the nation. I say he gets the token nod for preseason DPOY. I think that Billy Winn and Tyrone Crawford will get some votes and either could be in the running when the season ends.

Coach of the Year - Chris Petersen - These ones are tough. Not because Petersen doesn't deserve the award every year, but because the voters seem to vacillate between the coach that wins the most games or is expected to win the conference, and the coach that will lead the biggest turnaround. The only really proven guys would be Patterson and Petersen. I think Petersen gets the nod over Grimace from McDonaldland (i.e., Patterson - you saw the NCAA 12 promos, right?)

And now for my picks, which are outside the box at the expense of accuracy.

1. Boise State
2. Air Force
3. TCU
4. San Diego State
5. Colorado State
6. Wyoming
7. UNLV
8. New Mexico

Co-offensive players of the year - Kellen Moore and Doug Martin, Boise State - Unless Moore misses half the season with injury or half the season by being on the bench by the third quarter of every game, he will be the conference's offensive player of the year. But I think that a great year by Martin would catapult him into POY territory, too, and at the rate that Boise State will destroy teams, there is definitely room for two offensive stars.

Defensive player of the year - George Iloka, Boise State - Homer alert! I understand that I will be the only person picking Iloka in this spot, and that's probably why the conference doesn't let me vote in these things. No matter. For Iloka to get this award, he will need to have an insane amount of interceptions, possibly double-digits, and be a stalwart on the Bronco D. You heard it here first: 10 picks, a DPOY award to go along with it, and a lifetime voting exemption for yours truly. 

Coach of the year - Troy Calhoun, Air Force - If my awards do turn out the way I've predicted so far, I can't imagine the conference giving Boise State the clean sweep, no matter how much Petersen deserves COY. In my conference standings, I picked Air Force ahead of TCU. If Calhoun and the Falcons can pull that off, he is deserving of Coach of the Year honors. But just know that the award is Coach Pete's and he is merely letting Calhoun borrow it.

Drew and I are not the only ones to make our preseason picks public. Jeremy Mauss of Mountain West Connection predicted an entire team of All-Mountain West players. Occasional non-BCS blogger Andrea Adelson picked hers exactly by the book. And I know there will be more to come as media week picks up. Hang at OBNUG tomorrow for all the Mountain West coverage you can handle, and maybe even more than you can handle. I imagine people have their limits.

Your turn

What are your preseason picks for the Mountain West? Anything out of the ordinary? Am I insane for thinking George Iloka can score a DPOY award? Share your thoughts in the comments.