A collision course of historic proportions is set for Saturday in the Garden City.
On a mild Saturday afternoon in Bozeman, No. 5 Montana State ran roughshod over Eastern Washington, exploding for 41 unanswered points thanks to five total touchdowns from senior quarterback Sean Chambers in the first half before cruising to a 57-14 win over Eastern Washington. That win means MSU is back in the playoffs for the fifth time since 2018 and will certainly play one more home game at Bobcat Stadium this season.
It also means that next weekend’s rivalry clash in Missoula against Montana will be for all the marbles for the first time in the 122-year history of the fierce conflict.
No. 3 Montana had its way at Portland State on Saturday evening in the final Big Sky Conference contest of the second-to-last Saturday of the regular season. The third-ranked Griz rode 199 yards of total offense and three rushing touchdowns from senior quarterback Clifton McDowell and a defensive effort that included nine tackles for loss plus three sacks on the way to a 34-10 win at Portland State.
That means Saturday afternoon’s showdown will be for the outright Big Sky Conference title for the first time in the 60-year history of the league. Both MSU and UM are 6-1 in Big Sky play. No. 4 Idaho helped heighten the stakes by falling 31-29 at Weber State on Saturday afternoon in Ogden.
Montana State’s rivalry victories over Montana in 2002, 2003 and 2005 helped the ‘Cats share the league title with the Grizzlies. When MSU won in Missoula in 2010 and 2012, each victory helped MSU earn shares of the league title with other teams, but the Griz had already been eliminated from the league title race before the Treasure State’s Super Bowl.
Last season, when the Bobcats destroyed Montana 55-21 in Bozeman — MSU’s fifth win in the last six rivalry games — it sewed up Montana State’s first Big Sky title since 2012. But again, the Griz were not in the conference title race after losing three straight games in October leading up to the game.
Montana won 15 conference titles between 1993 and 2009. All of the titles in the 1990s included wins against the ‘Cats but didn’t require the victories to clinch. UM shared the league title with MSU in 2002, 2003 and 2005 despite losing the rivalry game. The Griz rolled to rivalry wins in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 on the way to league titles but have not won league titles since, unless you count the 2011 title that was vacated because of NCAA violations.
That game is the closest to a true Big Sky title game in the rivalry’s history. In 2011, Montana State was ranked No. 1 for the first (and last) time since 1978. The No. 7 Griz made sure that top ranking only lasted a week, coming into Bozeman and blasting the Bobcats, 36-10. But the teams shared the Big Sky crown that year.
Saturday’s Cat-Griz game in Missoula will also serve as the first time each team will be ranked in the Top 5 in the Football Championship Subdivision polls at the time of their meeting.
The winner will almost certainly get the No. 2 seed in the FCS playoffs — undefeated and top-ranked South Dakota State will be the top seed if they beat Missouri State (4-6) next week — and even the loser will be favored to get a Top 8 seed and the first round bye that goes with it.
In other words, the hype machine surrounding this week’s game is sure to be churned to the max.
“This game is big for a lot of reasons and there’s all those Montana natives that are down in our locker room that this game means so much to,” Vigen said following the EWU win, his team’s 21st in 23 Big Sky games under his guidance. “And I know the rivalry certainly grows on our guys from out of state. And then by the nature of it being the last game, there’s generally going to be Big Sky Conference and playoff implications on the line. And that’s the way it’s going to play out next Saturday.
“We have to have a great week of preparation and then go give it EVERYTHING we possibly can.”
Montana’s victory in Portland was the sixth straight by the Griz, pushing UM to 6-1 in Big Sky play and 9-1 overall. After looking clunky and disjointed during the non-conference and then losing 28-14 at Northern Arizona, Montana’s turnaround has been stark. Since then, the Griz defense has been terrorizing opponents, giving up just 17 points in the last three weeks and 15.5 points per game in Big Sky play. Since NAU, that number is down to 13.5 points per game allowed.
“It sounds like a dream come true,” Montana sophomore linebacker Riley Wilson said after rolling up a pair of sacks against PSU, bringing his team-high totals to 7.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in his first season with the Griz after transferring from Hawaii. “We’re in a spot where we really are blessed to be in. But I think it’s a spot we’ve earned. We’re right where we want to be.”
The overall record in the rivalry is 73 wins for the Griz and 42 for the Bobcats, while there’s also been five ties. But the overall record has some caveats. UM and MSU were not playing at the same level of college football between 1897 and 1962.
During the Big Sky era, Montana has won 32 rivalry games, including 16 straight between 1986 and 2001, while Montana State has won 27. During the “Great Divide Trophy” era beginning in 2002, the rivalry is tied 10-10.
Montana won four straight between 2006 and 2009 and eight out of 10 between 2006 and 2015. But Montana State won four in a row under former head coach Jeff Choate to secure the recent upper hand.
Montana has completely altered the narrative of its season over the last month and a half, morphing from a team devoid of identity to a squad that’s eviscerating opponents with a suffocating defense that has given up 17 points in the last three weeks combined.
“It’s always a scary week with the rivalry coming next and lots of stuff that’s not just the game that people are talking about,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “Our guys are pretty mature but they hear all of it and you worry about the focus and you worry about the performance. Our guys came out and performed so I was really pleased for them.”
Montana State is now 21-2 under Vigen’s guidance in Big Sky games. The lone league loss this season came at the end of October at Idaho, giving the Vandals the driver’s seat for the last few weeks.
But now that UI lost to Weber, Montana and Montana State will battle not only for the outright Big Sky championship, but the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs as well as home field advantage throughout the FCS playoffs.
“Part of our culture pyramid is having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs,” Montana State senior Ben Seymour said after nearly scoring a touchdown on a fumble recovery in the EWU win. “We know our backs are against the wall after losing to Idaho and SDSU, so we have that chip on our shoulder.”
“We have to win out. It’s a big thing for our program that we beat the Griz and own the state.”
The Great Divide Trophy, the Big Sky title trophy and bragging rights will be on the line in Missoula on Saturday afternoon. Let the pandemonium begin.
“It shapes up to be a heck of a big game,” Hauck said. “It’s probably one of the things I’m going to caution our guys about is not to worry about any of that. We’ve just got to worry about winning this game and doing our thing. It’s about us versus them, and we aren’t going to worry about anything other than that.”
