How I voted for C-USA preseason media poll

Conference USA released its annual preseason media poll Thursday with Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss as the favorites to play for the title.

Media members from the league's 13 schools voted in the poll. For the most part, I'm in agreement with the projections as a whole, give or take a few teams.

Here is how I voted with a description for each team and the actual predicted order of finish in parenthesis.

Media picks Tech to finish second behind Southern Miss

East Division

1. Middle Tennessee (1) — Count me in on the Blue Radiers' bandwagon. With sophomore Brent Stockstill back and growing as a player, MTSU's offense won't miss a beat. The defense is still a question mark, but if a team can score 40-plus points a game, the wins will follow.

2. Western Kentucky (2) — WKU and Marshall was a toss up here. The edge went to the defending C-USA champions. Yes, star quarterback Brandon Doughty has moved on but don't count out the Hilltoppers just yet.

3. Marshall (3) — I toyed around with a few orders of finish last week and had Marshall as the No. 1 team before switching to MTSU. All three of the top teams can win the title. That's how good the top is. Marshall will be in the mix one way or the other.

4. Old Dominion (6) — Florida Atlantic probably belongs here, but I'm not ready to go all-in with the Owls. Old Dominion returns 17 starters, including 1,000-yard rusher Ray Lawry. There are enough wins to go around for ODU to finish in the middle of the standings.

5. Florida Atlantic (4) — FAU has talent. Let's throw that out there first. The Owls boast the C-USA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and placed six players on the all-conference team. Your move, FAU.

6. Florida International (5) — FIU is in a similar boat as FAU, although maybe not as talented. There's may be too many strong teams in the East for FIU to make a big leap.

7. Charlotte (7) — Charlotte is still a year or two away from making a splash. A short-team goal is to move from the bottom of the league standings, even if it's just one place, but I'm not sure that happens this year.

West Division

1. Southern Miss (1) — New coach Jay Hopson inherits a plug-and-play roster. Southern Miss has everything at its disposal to run through the league again. The question is will it play out on paper.

2. Louisiana Tech (2) — Can Tech compete for another West Division title? Maybe. As of now, the Bulldogs are the most likely team to challenge USM. That's not a shot at UTEP or Rice, but I'm not entirely sold.

3. UTEP (4) — Maybe this is the year UTEP finally makes me look good. After years of picking UTEP as a sleeper team, the Miners have some interesting pieces coming back and enjoy the league's easiest schedule on paper.

4. Rice (3) — The 3/4 spot is almost interchangeable here. I expect Rice to improve on last year's struggles. Just how far Rice can move up the standings is yet to be determined.

5. North Texas (6) — This spot is normally held by UTSA in most preseason projections. I suppose this is going out on a limb considering UNT has the league's toughest schedule. Maybe the Mean Green will surprise some folks. Just a hunch.

6. UTSA (5) — Frank Wilson, the former LSU assistant turned UTSA head coach, is an elite recruiter. We don't know how he'll fare as a coach, though. It wouldn't shock me if UTSA struggles with another three- or four-win season.