After last year’s sort-of college football season for three of the region’s four Division I teams, things are kinda back to normal this fall.

For now.

All four teams are scheduled to kick off their seasons this coming weekend, with Eastern Washington at UNLV and Boise State at UCF on Thursday, and Idaho vs. Simon Fraser and Washington State vs. Utah State on Saturday.

Here’s our thoughts on how things might go this season; feel free to weigh in with yours.

Idaho: Every year, we think ... this might be the year of the Vandals.

And each of the last two seasons, Idaho has beaten Eastern Washington — the league’s recent gold standard.

But every year, Idaho drops a game or two in league that it probably shouldn’t, and ends up on the outside looking in when the FCS playoffs start.

This year, the coaches and media picked Idaho to finish eighth in the (for one last year, anyway) 13-team league — hardly a vote of confidence.

The Vandals have the folks to contend for a playoff spot — see the wins over EWU — but until they actually put a full season together, we have to keep them on the outside looking in this year as well.

Since returning the FCS and the Big Sky in 2018, the Vandals are 11-18 overall, 8-14 in conference play.

We’ll say Idaho goes 5-6 this year, with the usual highs and lows.

Don’t like it? Prove us wrong, Vandals.

Washington State: The “controversy” surrounding coach Nick “I plan to follow the mandate” Rolovich is probably a bigger deal on the outside of the program, rather than the inside.

The bigger issue might be whether there's enough depth of talent in Pullman to withstand a Pac-12/FBS schedule.

Say what you want about Mike Leach, who was only 1-7 vs. the Huskies (losing the last seven), but he did get the Cougs to a bowl game six times in his eight seasons as coach (though four of those six were losses).

WSU is picked to finish sixth (last) in the North Division of the Pac-12. Its run-and-shoot offense (whoever the quarterback is) could surprise a team or two in league.

The Cougs have a manageable nonconference schedule (Utah State, Portland State, BYU), but sometimes the conference grind gets to them.

We'll put WSU down for 5-7.

Boise State: Depending on which part of the internet you read, every Boise State recruit is a future All-American, and the Broncos have at least an outside chance at cracking the College Football Playoff.

The reality is, yes, BSU is the consensus best team in the Mountain West, but not by much — not like the Grand Canyon between Gonzaga and the rest of the West Coast Conference in men's basketball.

Despite their decision not to bring in Jeff Choate, with St. Maries and Post Falls ties, as their new head coach after his successful stint at Montana State, the Broncos should still be the favorites in the Mountain West. And whenever the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, Boise State will be back in the conversation for a playoff spot.

Boise's two toughest conference games — Nevada and Wyoming — are both at home, so the Broncos should run the table in league.

They play at UCF, Oklahoma State at home and at BYU. Just for the heck of it, I'll say they lose two of the three and finish 10-2 and in the conference title game.

Eastern Washington: The Eagles didn't make the playoffs last year — in part because of that loss to Idaho — but I'm not sure how much you read into that COVID-delayed, shortened spring "practice" season.

One thing's for sure — the return of Eric Barriere for his super senior season no doubt struck a tinge of fear in the rest of the Big Sky, having to gameplan one more time to try to contain the elusive, soft-spoken QB.

Eastern has a delicious home slate in conference play for fans — Montana, Idaho, Weber State and Montana State.

The opener at UNLV could be a stumbling block just because the Rebels are an FBS school.

We'll say the Eags go 9-2 in the regular season, and make it into the FCS playoffs.

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.