COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference on Wednesday morning released its 2024 preseason football coaches' poll, showing Western Colorado second in the rankings with three first-place votes and a total of 74 points.

Reigning champion Colorado School of Mines earned 79 points and the remaining 7 first-place votes to lead the poll. Rounding out the top five in the poll are third-place Colorado State Pueblo (66 pts.), Colorado Mesa University (50) and Black Hills State University (49).

Since the 2020 COVID non-season, Western has finished no lower than second in the final RMAC regular-season standings, earning a share of the conference title in 2021 with an 8-1 league mark.

Head coach Jas Bains, the 2021 and 2023 RMAC Coach of the Year, takes the Mountaineers into the 2024 season fresh from the program's second NCAA Division II tournament appearance. Western hosted an opening-round game in 2021, a seven-point loss to Nebraska-Kearney, then last season hosted Central Washington in a 16-13 overtime loss.

The Mountaineers open the 2024 season at home with a non-conference matchup against visiting Midwestern State (Texas) University. The 6 p.m. game is the grand opening of the Mountaineer Bowl at The Rady Family Sports Complex.

The Bowl has gone through a two-year renovation, one that includes 414 seatbacks in the home stands, locker rooms for home and away teams as well as officials, a two-story press box that includes a President's Box, corporate boxes and two radio booths, a monstrous video board in the north end zone, and a dynamic lighting system that will shine on the first night game in the Bowl's history.