As the wind suddenly began whipping from north to south and a veteran Griz lay wounded near the goal line, the Bobcat Stadium faithful sang Neil Diamond in unison.
The celebration was not because of the injury but rather because the sold-out, record-setting crowd sensed that history was near. Even within a rare lull that was accompanied by a briefly vicious storm, no one wanted to leave their seats.
Not much is sweeter than “Sweet Caroline” on a college football Saturday. But going undefeated in the regular season for the first time in your program’s history and capping the first 12-0 season in the history of the Big Sky Conference might be the sweetest treat the Bobcats have ever tasted.
The visitors from Missoula fought admirably against the juggernaut Bobcat offense that has steamrolled opponent after opponent during an unbelievably prolific season spurred on by the best offensive line and the deepest stable of running backs in the country.
Several Montana-made players for the Grizzlies played with great fortitude in trying to stand in the way of an MSU rushing attack that entered the 123rd rivalry clash averaging more than 330 yards per game on the ground. And Montana State had to endure the loss of Scottre Humphrey and Julius Davis, the Bobcats’ top two running backs.
The Griz held MSU to 20 points in the first half — a startling stat when you consider that the ‘Cats scored 40+ points before the mid-point of the 3rd quarter on seven different occasions before Saturday.
But Montana State’s defensive front eventually overwhelmed the Griz offensive line, allowing MSU to incrementally build its lead before spurring on an avalanche.
Led by senior linebacker Ryan Tirrell (10 tackles) and senior safeties Jaxon Lee (nine tackles) & Ryder Meyer (six tackles), the Griz defense kept Montana in the game early before Montana State slammed the door late.
When the damn broke, MSU flooded the opposition with more than 300 rushing yards for the 10th time in 12 games this season, spearheaded by Missoula’s Adam Jones. And the Bobcats defense allowed just 230 yards and 13 first downs on the way to victory in front of a stadium-record 22,057 here on Saturday afternoon.
“To finish the regular season undefeated is significant and to win the outright conference title for the first time in a long time is significant and to bring that (Great Divide) Trophy back to this building is significant,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “A lot accomplished today and I appreciate where we are at, but I think we all understand that we have bigger things in mind moving forward.”
The victory helped Montana State match its school record for single-season victories. No Big Sky Conference team has ever won 12 games without a loss in the regular season. The Bobcats are the outright Big Sky Conference champions. And after North Dakota State’s 29-28 loss to No. 4 South Dakota, the Bobcats are almost certain to get the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs.
“This game has been circled on our calendar all year, but we have been trying to focus on the game in front of us every week and once this week came up, we talked about sticking to our process but doing it a little bit better this week,” Montana State senior captain Rylan Ortt said.
“That Big Sky Conference championship trophy is cool to have and it means a lot, but there’s nothing cooler than carrying that Great Divide Trophy around the stadium and the locker room. That’s the one we were after and we got it today.”
The victory is also rich when it comes to the narrative of one of the fiercest, oldest rivalries in college football. Montana State has now defeated Montana six out of eight times, one of the best stretches for the Bobcats since Sonny Holland roamed the sidelines at Reno H. Sales Stadium in the mid-1970s.
MSU avenged last season’s humiliating 37-7 defeat in Missoula that gave the Griz their first outright Big Sky title in 14 seasons and sparked UM to make a run to its first national title game in just as long.
Vigen evened his record against Montana at 2-2 and the Griz have now not won in Bozeman since 2015 under Bob Stitt.
“We really appreciate the opportunity to play in a rivalry like this and I really appreciate how we came out and played,” Vigen said. “And appreciating one another. Those moments when you win these games are unforgettable in your coaching career, your playing career, so I hope our guys soaked it in.”
Bobby Hauck, a man who led Montana to seven consecutive Big Sky titles and a 80-17 record between 2003 and 2009, is now 2-4 against the Bobcats since his return ahead of the 2018 season. He is yet to win in Bozeman and his career record against Montana State is now 7-6 overall.
“They were too much for us today, they have a good football team,” Hauck said. “They did a good job. I approve of our guys’ effort. I thought our guys prepared really well this week and played hard. We didn’t execute cleanly enough to come in here and knock them off. Good by them, not good enough by us.”
Tirrell, Lee, Meyer and the Griz defense showed great physicality from the outset, popping Montana State’s ball carriers with authority. But Montana State’s first drive proved a sign of things to come when MSU senior quarterback Tommy Mellott kept the ball on a zone-read and waltzed into the south end-zone for a five-yard touchdown scamper to cap a 14-play, 75-yard march that included 12 runs and ate up eight minutes, 59 seconds.
The harbinger of things was not Mellott getting loose — Montana held Montana State’s elusive and explosive quarterback to 10 carries for 50 yards — but it showed that Montana State would not stop coming. And although Montana stood stout, nine of the 14 plays ended with tackles by either Lee, Meyer or someone else in the Griz secondary.
So when Jones ripped off an 88-yard run with 3:45 left in the third quarter to set up a touchdown to push the lead to 24 points, the Blue & Gold faithful could taste it. The dam was about to break.
When the wind started whipping, the rain started swirling and the Neil Diamond started blaring, an affirming rivalry victory was in the record crowd’s crosshairs.
Montana answered the Jones score with its lone touchdown drive of the day. The Eli Gillman score was set up by a nice catch and run by Griz senior Aaron Fontes. But Fontes suffered what looked to be a serious leg injury and had to be carried off the field by Montana strength coach Dan Ryan and his fellow Oxnard, California, native Xavier Harris.
With the score sitting at 27-11, Montana State answered once again. With the sharp wind at their backs, and the rain drops swirling like mini hurricane cyclones, MSU saw no need to throw the ball. In fact, the Bobcats didn’t throw the ball one time in the second half and only 12 times all day.
“In the fourth quarter, we took over up front,” Vigen said. “That’s a credit to who we are. That’s a credit to (strength) coach (Sean) Herrin and the guys involved, just continuing to believe.”
Jones, a Missoula Sentinel product playing an elevated role because of injuries, kept on gashing the Griz, likely securing the Big Sky’s Freshman of the Year honor and further strengthening his candidacy for the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in the FCS. His 26-yard run got Montana State into Griz territory and his 2-yard touchdown run three plays later helped put the final nail in the Grizzlies’ rivalry coffin.
“It’s definitely one of my biggest goals to have a big game against Montana, growing up there and the coming here,” Jones said. “You get a little bit of criticism being a guy from Missoula coming here and you want to wear your colors proud when you go back home. I think I’m going to be able to after today.”
When Jones pushed a group of Grizzlies about four yards for a first down near the two-minute mark, Vigen couldn’t help but signal for the chains to move and wave on the crowd to appreciate the moment.
Jones finished with 25 carries for 197 yards and two touchdowns. His rushing total is one of the top four by a Bobcat in a single game against the Grizzlies.
“He’s a good football player, a great competitor and I’m glad he’s over here,” Vigen said. “I know that much.”
Montana State ended the afternoon with 325 yards rushing and 6.3 yards per rush despite missing a pair of All-American backs and not throwing the ball for over half the game. Mellott’s last completion came with 20 seconds to play before halftime.
“Giving up that long run, we were still within striking distance and giving that one up, I really think that they are a rush-first team and they don’t throw it particularly well and they don’t have to because they run it so well,” Hauck said. “I’m looking at the rush total and I would say that needs to be about, 225 not 325 for us to win the game.
“They should be proud of their guys’ effort. They are down to one running back and he kept running hard.”
Conversely, Montana rushed just 23 times for 117 yards, including just 14 combined carries for Eli Gillman and Nick Ostmo. Montana State senior safety and captain Rylan Ortt, another Missoula Sentinel alum, spearheaded the Bobcat defensive effort alongside the blitzing and havoc-wreaking pass rush. Among his 11 tackles were seven tackles of Gillman in space.
“It’s hard to quantify how much he means to this program and for him to have this performance today,” Vigen said. “He’s poured so much into making the most out of everything he’s been given. He’s a big-time player. And he’s crazy smart, crazy prepared. And he lets it go play out on the field, whether that’s being in the right place all the time or getting some other guys in the right place. He’s not afraid of the moment and I’m thankful we have him here, too.”
As the cowbells echoed throughout the stadium, clarity of the present continued affirming the past was, well, the past. A generation of Bobcats had to endure Montana’s domination of the rivalry and the Big Sky. But now, it’s impossible to say anything but that the Bobcats rule the contemporary day.
Not only are the Bobcats the Big Sky Conference champions for the second time in three years, they have also now defeated Montana six times in the last eight rivalry games and have beaten the Griz four times in a row in Bozeman.
So much of what culminated on Saturday was not just a revenge tour for last year’s Cat-Griz loss but also a quest for redemption after the highest of expectations fell flat in 2023.
The most recent off-season for the ‘Cats was filed with self-reflection and adjustment, including new coordinators on both sides of the ball and a renewed vigor in off-season training.
From MSU strength coach Sean Herrin challenging the ‘Cats physically and mentally to Montana State being able to overcome the transfer of three All-Americans to Power 5 programs to the Bobcats not just talking about but living the “1-and-0” mentality that has become the team’s mantra, it all came to a head on Saturday.
As the Bobcat offensive and defensive linemen carried the Great Divide Trophy around the field, senior captain Justus Perkins was intercepted by his father, Josh Perkins, a former standout defensive back for MSU in the 1990s. Justus couldn’t contain his emotions as tears began to streak down his cheeks and the magnitude of the accomplishment — the first undefeated regular season in school history and the first outright Big Sky title for Montana State since 1984 — began to sink in.
From Mellott’s gutsy third down throw to Rohan Jones for a 35-yard touchdown in the first half to Myles Sansted’s 49-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer to Jones’ formidable second half, Montana State put basically every question pundits had about their program to rest.
“This team, back in January, made its mind up that we are not going to get in front of ourselves at all,” Vigen said. “That goes back to each daily workout in January. This isn’t just talk. We have to live it. And no more than right now.
“Last week, the Big Sky Commissioner brought the trophy into the locker room. I said ‘set it down, we have more to accomplish.’ Our guys embraced that. They were not interested in sharing the conference title.”
For the Griz, a second season filled with disappointment and an uncustomary number of losses in the last three years is the reality of the moment. While last year’s 13-win campaign and national title game run gives Hauck and his remaining players seemingly unlimited grace, it also invites bigger questions. Montana now limps into the playoffs with a fourth regular-season loss after getting blown out on two straight trips to Bozeman.
The 8-4 Griz are safely into the playoffs despite the struggles this season. UM will probably get a first-round home game and then get sent to one of the top four seeds in the bracket for the second round.
“Everyone is 0-0, start of a new season,” Tirrell said. “I don’t mind the position we are in. It’s certainly not where we want to be but we are willing to fight and go deep in the playoffs.”
A collection of Bobcat greats, former players who wanted to experience the moment and be first-hand witnesses to history, populated the sidelines of Bobcat Stadium on Saturday. The win over the Grizzlies will always be filled with utmost import and serious ramifications around the narrative of the program.
This Bobcat team though believes they are different. Their next victory will set an all-time school record. A group of driven, no-nonsense seniors have steered the ship since MSU lost in overtime on a blocked extra point to North Dakota State last December.
And the irony now is that celebrating with Bobcats old and new as Billy Idol’s “Mony, Mony” blared from Montana State’s new multi-million dollar scoreboard must become yesterday’s news starting Sunday morning.
Montana State will be confirmed as the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs for the first time in school history at 10:30 on Sunday morning. And then commences the return to the 1-0 mentality.
“We felt going undefeated would secure home field,” Vigen said. “We felt that win by South Dakota would win more than that. All we can control is what we do and we’ve controlled that to this point. However that plays out with the bracket, the seeding come tomorrow morning, we are looking forward to that next opportunity to play in a couple of weeks.
“We have to find a way to play better in December than we have to this point and I like our chances to do that.”
