SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Nevada football team has been picked to finish second by both the media and coaches in the 2009 WAC Preseason Polls, the league announced Wednesday morning. Wolf Pack junior quarterback Colin Kaepernick was also chosen as the league’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in voting by the media.
The polls and preseason honors were announced as part of the conference’s Football Preview being held this week.
Boise Stat was picked by both the coaches and the media to win the WAC. Nevada received one first-place vote in the coaches poll and three first-place votes in the media poll.
Kaepernick was the postseason Offensive Player of the Year award last year after he became the fifth quarterback in NCAA FBS history to throw for more than 2,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 yards in the same season. Kaepernick threw for 2,849 yards and 22 touchdowns last year and added 1,130 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground. He was named the 2008 WAC Offensive Player of the Year following his 2007 season where he was voted the WAC Freshman of the Year.
Nevada went 7-6 last year and went to its fourth bowl game in the last four years.
The coaches' voting went like this:
Rank Team (1st Place Votes) Points
1. Boise State (8) 64
2. Nevada (1) 55
3. Fresno State 45
Louisiana Tech 45
5. Hawai‘i 36
6. San Jose State 34
7. Utah State 21
8. New Mexico State 13
9. Idaho 11
The media voting went like this:
Rank Team (1st place votes) Points
1. Boise State (55) 519
2. Nevada (3) 444
3. Fresno State 365
4. Louisiana Tech 360
5. Hawai‘i 275
6. San Jose State 263
7. Utah State 170
8. Idaho 110
9. New Mexico State 104
Nevada opens the season Sept. 5 at Notre Dame. The complete press releases from the WAC are available via the PDF links at the top of this page.
