For the third year in a row, the University of Northern Colorado football team was picked last in the Big Sky Conference preseason polls. And, for the third straight year, the Bears aren't surprised to see their name at the bottom of the list.

"Until we go out and win some more games, I expect that," Bears coach Scott Downing said.

The Big Sky released its 2008 preseason coaches' and media polls Tuesday, the final day of the league's Summer Kickoff, and Downing said he hopes the ninth-place prediction provides motivation.

Downing, the Bears' third-year coach, was quick to point out that in his 29 years of coaching, he has been with teams that were picked last and ended up first and with teams picked first that finished in the middle of the pack.

The Bears have plenty of reasons to be optimistic they will not finish where others predict. UNC returns seven starters on offense and seven on defense, and although Downing figures about 67 percent of his team is freshmen or sophomores, the Bears are a more experienced team.

"We're looking great and we have quite a few guys returning from last year," linebacker Joe Kenney said. "We also have some real good guys coming in."

Kenney is part of a senior class, along with tight end Ryan Chesla, linebacker Cristian Sarmento and offensive lineman Jacob Thornbrue, that should provide leadership.

Because 63 of the 90 players on last season's roster were true freshmen, the Bears have been one of the youngest teams during their time in the Big Sky. So the younger players need positive leadership from the veteran players on the field.

"What we've tried to do to in building our program is to get our players to understand that success is a process," Downing said.

Downing and Kenney point to a specific point in 2007 when they believe the program took a huge step forward, and they are hoping the team can build on it.

The Bears picked up their only Big Sky victory during their two years in the league last season when Zak Bigelow kicked a 37-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to beat then-No. 19 Montana State.

"After we beat Montana State everybody had confidence and realized that we can play with everybody here," Kenney said.

The rest of the Big Sky has noticed.

"You don't see the great jumps in wins and losses yet, but the components that you look at that are going to support wins and losses are there," Northern Arizona coach Jerome Souers said. "You can see improvements in all aspects of their program and when you get those things right the wins are only a matter of time."