Warriors picked to win WAC

SAN JOSE, Calif. » Most Western Athletic Conference football coaches and media say Hawaii will win the league championship this year.

In polls released today at the WAC Media Preview, six of the league's nine coaches and 32 of 58 media members who voted picked the Warriors to finish first in the league. The rest of them selected Boise State to win the WAC for the sixth year in a row.

"It's nice that people think highly of us, especially coaching peers," UH coach June Jones said. "But preseason polls don't really mean a lot other than those are people's opinions, and everybody has one. We are very excited about the season and hopefully we will live up to expectations, especially our own."

The rest of the coaches' poll goes in this order: Nevada, Fresno State, San Jose State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, Utah State and Idaho. The media ranks the teams in the same order as the coaches, with the exception of flip-flopping Fresno State and Nevada.

UH went 11-3 last year, with its only WAC loss coming against Boise State for a 7-1 second-place conference record. The Broncos own a 13-game winning streak and have beaten the Warriors the past six times.

The last time UH was picked to win the WAC was 2003. The Warriors finished that season 9-5 overall and tied for fourth in the conference at 5-3.

Jones and UH senior defensive tackle Mike Lafaele arrived in San Jose last night along with other WAC players and coaches to meet with reporters from around the conference today and tomorrow.

Warriors senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Colt Brennan was expected to arrive this morning. He is working at the Elite Eleven Camp in Southern California, where top college quarterbacks from around the country tutor their high school counterparts.