MWC voters see Rebels fifth-best

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, July 22, 2004 | 10:42 a.m.

On paper this figures to be John Robinson's most talented team in his six years at UNLV. But that apparently wasn't enough to impress the 16 selected media members from around the Mountain West Conference who voted in this year's MWC preseason poll.

The Rebels, who return 14 starters from a squad that finished 6-6 and scored an impressive 23-5 victory at Wisconsin last year, finished tied with BYU for fifth place in the poll, which was released this morning during the conference's media day festivities at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at Lake Las Vegas.

Defending champion Utah, which returns 17 starters from a team that went 10-2 and blanked Southern Miss, 17-0, in the Liberty Bowl, garnered 15 of the 16 first-place votes and 127 overall points and was picked to repeat as champion. Colorado State (98), which picked up one first-place vote, was picked to finish second followed by San Diego State (87) and New Mexico (86). UNLV and BYU tied for fifth place with 54 points followed by Air Force (42) and Wyoming (23).

The conference also released a preseason all-Mountain West squad with two Rebels, senior linebacker Adam Seward and senior safety Jamaal Brimmer, honored. The defensive duo were two of just seven unanimous choices to the team, which includes 14 players who were first-team all-MWC picks in 2003.

Utah led the way with six all-MWC picks including junior quarterback Alex Smith, followed by New Mexico with five and Colorado State and San Diego State with four each.

The conference elected not to name a preseason player or coach of the year.