Today, we take our annual stab at how area college football teams will fare this season:

Idaho: If ever there was a program that needed a game to take the spotlight off its other issues, it's the Vandals.

If it's not the five wins in the last four years (and two in the last two, under current coach Paul Petrino), it's a confrontation between Petrino and local reporters, and Idaho players getting caught shoplifting, and the undercurrent of should they stay (in FBS) or should they go (back to the Big Sky).

The Vandals were a better team last year than they were the year before, though the win total didn't show it. So it stands to reason, with another year of experience, they should be a little better this year.

Will it show in the win column? It had better.

Idaho was picked to finish last in the 11-team Sun Belt. The Vandals play New Mexico State (picked 10th), but not Georgia State (picked ninth).

The last two years I gave them too much credit, picking them to win four games each season. This season, to change things up, I'll say 2-10 (they'll beat New Mexico State, and pick off one other team), and hope they prove me wrong.

Thursday's opener vs. Ohio will be telling - a strong start, and maybe they surprise some other teams this season as well.

But if they lay an egg, like they did in recent openers vs. Bowling Green and Eastern Washington ...

Boise State: Much like Gonzaga basketball last season, the national media is tripping over itself praising the Broncos.

And, much like the Zags, who reached the Elite Eight, said media may be right.

Boise is clearly the class of the Mountain West -- the only potential road block games are at Colorado State and at Utah State in a seven-day span in October.

In nonconference play, not even a pre-game feast of real thick bacon from JB's in Meridian will help the Huskies in coach Chris Petersen's return to Boise.

And if BSU doesn't stumble at BYU or at Virginia, the Broncos could roll the table.

Like Gonzaga, BSU teams don't seem to come out flat -- they may get beaten by a better team that day, but it's not because they came out flat.

The only question mark for the Broncos is, they are breaking in a new starting quarterback, but they seem to have enough talent elsewhere to cover for that, until he gets up to speed. Plus, are their opponents good enough to take advantage of that inexperience?

Boise State will go 13-0 -- including a win in the conference title game. Will it be enough to get the Broncos into the College Football Playoff? For that to happen, they will need the big-boy teams from the power conference schools to knock each other off -- and even that might not be enough.

Washington State: After making it to a bowl in 2013, Mike Leach's second season in Pullman, the Cougars took a step backward last year, going 3-9.

Their loyal soldier of a quarterback for the past four seasons, Connor Halliday, is also gone.

Losses to Rutgers and Nevada in the first two weeks last season set the tone for an underachieving season.

If the Cougs can build momentum in their pre-conference schedule (vs. Portland State, at Rutgers and vs. Wyoming), maybe they make some noise in the Pac-12.

WSU was picked by coaches to finish fifth out of six teams in the North Division, ahead of only Oregon State. The Cougs won at Corvallis last year; OSU and Colorado (picked last in the South Division) come to Pullman this year.

I'll say 6-6, with a win over the Huskies in Seattle in the Apple Cup to make them bowl eligible.

Eastern Washington: The Eagles will have the motivation in their opener to beat Oregon and former EWU quarterback Vernon Adams -- but will they have the ability? Eastern stunned Oregon State and nearly beat Washington -- twice -- but the Ducks are a step up from those two programs.

Eastern is more than just Adams, and has been a player on the FCS scene since it won the national title in 2010. But the Eags have not been back to the title game since.

Despite playing all of their playoff games at home the last three seasons, the Eagles have not been able to parlay that into a return trip to the FCS title game. EWU lost at home in the semifinals in 2012 and '13, and in the quarterfinals last year.

This year? An 8-3 regular season and another trip to the FCS playoffs, where we'll see if they can finally ride that home cooking back to Frisco, Texas.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.