On a resume checklist filled with impressive accomplishments during his first five years as a head coach, Brent Vigen only has two boxes without a checkmark.
And one of those could get crossed off the list this weekend in Missoula.
Vigen is 56-12 since taking over at Montana State. It took him just four and a half seasons to surpass the great Sonny Holland, the man whose statue welcomes patrons into Bobcat Stadium, for second place on Montana State’s all-time wins list for head coaches.
MSU is 36-3 against Big Sky Conference opponents under Vigen. And a win on Saturday in Missoula would not only give the Bobcats their third 8-0 league campaign in the last four seasons; it would also secure an outright Big Sky title for the second year in a row and help Vigen earn his third league title in the last four years.
Perhaps more importantly though, a win in Missoula on Saturday could erase the narrative that playing at Washington-Grizzly Stadium is too much for Vigen’s Bobcats. The last two times MSU has visited Missoula, the Bobcats were also in the midst of league title pursuits. Both times, a win could’ve shored up at least a share of the conference title if not the outright crown. And both previous trips have resulted in lopsided losses that are uncustomary for a head coach that seems to always have his team prepared to the utmost to endure adverse circumstances no matter who and no matter where they play.
“The biggest challenge of playing in Missoula is being able to control your emotions and we are talking about the warrior dial is..you can’t play all the way up at a nine because in that environment, if you go full, your emotions might go haywire and you can’t focus on the next play,” Montana State senior captain defensive tackle Paul Brott said on Monday. “You have to know what warrior level you can play at. You can’t amp it up and have that happen because they are going to take advantage of that. It’s about being sound and disciplined and understand there is going to be adversity and you have to face that.”
The implication from Brott is that Montana State had it too cranked each of the last two visits. And that was apparent with how flustered MSU appeared in its operation and in handling the frenzy that can and will occur when one of the fiercest rivalries in college football descends upon one of the most ferocious and hostile homefield environments you’ll find anywhere in the country.
It also contributes to the narrative that MSU’s three previous head coaches — Mike Kramer (2000-2006), Rob Ash (2007-2015) and Jeff Choate (2016-2020) — each won in Missoula at least once with Ash and Choate doing it twice. Other than a national championship or a victory over North Dakota State (or both), Vigen has checked every box except a win at Washington-Griz.
Vigen’s 12 losses include three to North Dakota State, his alma mater, in the post season including in the 2021 and 2023 national championship game. His other playoff loss came at South Dakota State, the eventual national champions, in the 2022 semifinals. Three of the losses (Wyoming in 2021, Oregon State in 2022, Oregon this season) came to FBS opponents. Two more of the losses came to South Dakota State during the regular season, once in 2023 and once this season in Week 2 of this season.
The three outliers are losses in Missoula in 2021 and 2023 along with a perplexing 2023 loss at Idaho (24-21) that impacted MSU’s playoff seeding that year. Although, to be fair, Idaho was playoff team who won a playoff game that fall.
“We have not been able to create momentum to any kind of volume over there (in Missoula),” Vigen said on Monday. “They have been able to do that in both the games in Missoula that I’ve been a part of with early offense and we haven’t been able to…it’s one thing to have somebody create momentum but then you’ve gotta be able to stop it. We really haven’t done that. The last time over there, we scored at the half.”
In 2021, Montana put the record-setting crowd into a fever pitch when Junior Bergen dusted Troy Andersen for a 75-yard touchdown on the second play of the game. MSU was on its heels for the rest of the afternoon as Montana rolled to a 29-10 win. A blocked field goal that resulted in a Justin Ford rumble into the end-zone sent the sellout crowd into bedlam.
In 2023, Montana State forced a fumble on Montana’s opening possession of the game. Clifton McDowell, a former transfer quarterback who seemed aloof about the magnitude of the rivalry coming into the game — “Battle of the Brawl”, anyone? — got smacked and coughed up the ball. But the Grizzlies recovered.
A few plays later, Eli Gillman trucked a few Bobcat defenders to swing the momentum. Then McDowell ran through two Bobcat defenders and into the end-zone, shoulder shrugging and talking smack after he popped up from the touchdown that capped a 14-play, 75-yard drive. Montana State never recovered.
Even when the Bobcats scored right out of the halftime locker room, the Griz answered with a huge kick return to midfield. Six plays later, McDowell hit Bergen for a touchdown to push the lead to 27-7 and the Griz were off to the races on the way to a 37-7 victory.
“Momentum in these last four games have been heavy to the home team,” Vigen said. “When that momentum is created, that creates a frenzy in certainly either one of the stadiums that does make it more challenging. Our ability to play within ourselves, deal with plays that aren’t successful as much as ones that have been successful. This team has done a good job of being pretty resilient. How do you combat momentum? It’s being resilient and that’s really what it comes down to.”
Brott vividly remembers MSU’s last trip to Missoula. And the Bobcat DT agrees with his head coach.
“The environment, momentum plays a huge role in this game, so if they get rolling in their stadium, it’s a lot harder to stop that momentum and if we get rolling here, it’s a lot harder to stop,” he said, referencing when Montana State has buried the Grizzlies the last three times in Bozeman, winning 48-14 in 2019, 55-21 in 2022 and 34-11 last season “To be able to be poised in that environment, you have to realize there’s going to be adversity but you have to strike back against it. That’s how you really win this game.”
While a win in Missoula is one of the only things missing from Vigen’s resume, the rivalry has not been peaches and cream for Bobby Hauck since he returned to lead his alma mater for a second stint.
The Big Sky’s all-time leader in overall and conference wins lost his first rivalry game to the Bobcats in 2003. He lost again in 2005 in Bozeman in one of MSU quarterback Travis Lulay’s signature wins.
But Hauck’s Griz ran roughshod over the rival thereafter, pounding Montana State four years in a row between 2006 and 2009. UM’s 35-3 win while wearing throwback copper & gold jerseys in 2008 remains one of the most iconic in school history.
But his return has been filled with the two highlight wins in Missoula, the second that capped UM’s first Big Sky title run since Hauck left following the 2009 season, and four other losses, including one so devasting in 2018 that filmmakers made a documentary about it.
Hauck’s 0-3 in Bozeman since coming back but a few of his team’s best performances have come when defending their home field against their archrivals.
This year’s Griz team is arguably one of Hauck’s best. The high-powered offense has averaged more than 42 points per game and has helped UM to an 11-0 start, the third time Hauck has accomplished such a feat and the fourth time in school history the Griz have won 11 straight to start a season.
“There’s more to do, right? So we don’t want to act like we’ve accomplished anything just yet,” Hauck said on Monday. “But the Grizzlies have been 11-0 four times in school history. So that’s a good effort by our guys. That’s a good effort by our staff, good effort by our players, good effort by everybody, the equipment guys.
“We want to go out and play our best game this weekend. We are certainly glad to be unscathed at this point rather than having any losses. But this is not the time of year where we get to enjoy any of that. We will reflect on that stuff later. We will have work to do.”
Hauck, who is 7-6 in his career against Montana State overall and needs a win to stay above .500 in the rivalry and to get above .500 against Vigen, deflected when asked about the magnitude of this year’s matchup. Saturday marks the first time in 124 matchups and the first time in the 135-year history of Griz football that they play Montana State with both having undefeated conference marks going into the season finale.
“I don’t think it adds anything to it to be honest; if neither one of us has a win, it’s still a big game in this state,” Hauck said. “That’s good for you guys to talk about (media), but as I mentioned, I don’t think this will be the only time we play this year.
“It’s a huge game because it’s our rivalry game and it always is but we should anticipate playing each other later in the season.”
Regardless of if a rivalry rematch awaits down the road, Saturday’s contest will have huge ramifications. An outright Big Sky title, homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and bragging rights for another year are all at stake. It’s also almost like a rubber match between two of the most accomplished FCS head coaches in the country. And Vigen, for one, wants to keep the Great Divide Trophy in Bozeman.
“The trophy is a constant reminder of the other team and the other university in this state that does push you to be your very best day in and day out, week in and week out,” Vigen said. “How much it means to those Montana guys, to their hometown, their family, what it means to their high school buddies, the bragging rights. It’s omnipresent in this building for good reason and here’s a chance to defend it.”
