Some perennial powers are rebuilding this year

When Billings Senior coach Mark Sulser was asked how he would rank the Class AA football teams, he went to a board in his office and began to ponder the question with his staff.

After considerable discussion, they finally came up with a list. Sulser said that he could probably come in the next day and try it again and it wouldn't be the same.

Every coach in the league is likely to have the same trouble. It's a very difficult year to get a handle on which will be the top teams.

Certainly, you have to look at traditional powers like three-time defending champion Helena Capital, Billings West and Great Falls CMR.

It became apparent fairly early last year that the Bruins and Bears were a cut above the rest. Capital, of course, was clearly the best after whipping West 35-14 in the championship game.

West filling holes

You wonder if there will be that kind of separation this year, given that both teams lost a ton of talent. Capital, however, does have arguably the state's best player in Mike Miller. West is missing 21 of 22 starters, leaving question marks.

Jack Johnson enters his 37th season at CMR and began practice on an optimistic note.

"We have good skill kids,'' Johnson told the Great Falls Tribune. "Good running backs, receivers and quarterbacks. The offensive line is better than anytime last year, and the defense is pretty good. We might be a little skimpy at offensive tackle, but I think we'll be all right.''

But are the Rustlers the team to beat? Can Capital and West simply reload?

Perhaps there will be some teams that rise up from the pack and challenge those traditional powers.

Glacier breakthrough?

One team to watch is Kalispell Glacier. The Wolf Pack have 15 returning starters, including quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann.

Glacier made some strides last year, and it will be interesting to see how far the Wolf Pack can come in their third year of existence.

Billings Skyview made the playoffs last year. If the Falcons can overcome some offseason injuries, they should be in the mix again. Senior played a lot of young guys last year, and Sulser hopes that experience will make the Broncs more of a factor.

Bozeman could be an intriguing team with good talent at the skill positions. Helena High has been solid under veteran coach Tony Arntson.

Missoula Big Sky has usually been playoff contender under coach Gary Ekegren. Maybe this will be the year for Missoula Sentinel to get into the postseason after a two-decade drought. The Spartans lost out on a tiebreaker last year.

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The Montana Grizzlies' decision to add North Dakota to its future football schedules is welcome news. UND will visit Missoula next year, and UM will go to Grand Forks in 2013.

The teams used to play on a fairly regular basis. In fact, they played a couple times at Daylis Stadium in the 1960s. The Sioux won pretty easily the first time (30-6 in 1966), and the Grizzlies routed them in the next meeting (37-10 in '68).

Now let's get a series going with UM and North Dakota State.

The Bobcats should also get in on this, as they have even more of a history with those schools than the Grizzlies. MSU played one or both in all but one year from 1956 to 1983.

It's too bad both that the North Dakota schools aren't in the Big Sky Conference, because they would make it more competitive.