Although UC Davsi stud Caden Pinnick certainly has a say, arguably two of the best if not the two best quarterbacks in the Big Sky Conference will lead their teams into the clash for the outright Big Sky title in Missoula on Saturday.
Keali’i Ah Yat has been a revelation in his sophomore season. The native of Hawaii has transformed from a prospect with a ton of potential into one of the savviest and most efficient quarterbacks in the country. He’s also been prolific. He enters his first rivalry game start against No. 3 Montana State leading the league in passing yards (2,968 yards) and passing touchdowns (24). He’s throwing for 269.8 yards per game and has a QB rating of 163.1.
“Ah Yat has had a heck of a year so far,” Montana State 5th-year head coach Brent Vigen said. “He’s completing the ball at a high rate. He’s almost at 3,000 yards at this point and he looks a lot different than he did last year. Last year, he was sharing the opportunity and that’s challenging in its own right. He’s certainly settled in and had a real good year. He’s elusive, he makes good decisions, he can push the ball down the field, he’s accurate, all those things. I think it does start with him.”
Justin Lamson has been a revelation all his own, coming in as a transfer from Stanford who had the unenviable task of replacing 2024 Walter Payton Award winner Tommy Mellott, an insanely productive dual-threat quarterback who also was among the most beloved Bobcat of all time. Lamson has not missed a beat and has made the offense and the command of it all his own.
He’s been a model of efficiency and also a sneaky option in the plus-one run game. He enters his first rivalry start with 2,170 passing yards and he’s thrown 19 touchdowns against just two interceptions, including no turnovers in conference play so far. Lamson has also rushed for 509 yards and his 10 touchdowns leads all quarterbacks and is fourth in the BSC. In conference-only games, Lamson leads the league with a 187.2 passer rating and is tied with Pinnick for most touchdowns (16).
Montana State is rushing for 236 yards per game and throwing for about 215, a balance that’s been elusive the last near-decade for a Bobcat team that has favored running quarterbacks and run-heavy offensive attacks.
“They want to run the ball, but it’s a different offense,” Montana 14th-year head coach Bobby Hauck said. “A year ago, it was like watching Navy. This year, it’s more of a spread offense.”
Montana running back Eli Gillman has rushed for more than 1,100 yards and has scored 17 total touchdowns. UM senior slasher Michael Wortham has more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage and has scored 12 touchdowns. But most Big Sky followers would agree that the two leading candidates for the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year are the two quarterbacks that will lead their respective offenses into the Brawl on Saturday in Missoula.
“(Lamson) hasn’t played in this game, I know that, and he hasn’t played over there. So, he’s been in some big-time environments. He’s not going to shy away from anything,” Vigen said.
“His comfort level of what we are doing with him and his ability to execute continues to come along. We will certainly need him to play well but he doesn’t have to do too much either on Saturday. We are definitely in good hands and that game the other night is a step in the right direction.”
Ah Yat has been around the program. His father, Brian, was an All-American at Montana and a three-year starter between 1996 and 1998. If Lamson’s task of taking over for Mellott was unenviable, so was Brian Ah Yat’s when he took the helm from Dave Dickenson, who’s considered royalty in Griz Nation.
And Ah Yat has been at Montana for the previous two matchups. But this will be his first rivalry game start. He’s played very well for most of this season. But this will be the biggest game of his career as a starter.
“It’s a game where you have to keep control of your emotions, just another football game,” UM senior linebacker Geno Leonard said. “I will just rely on my teammates, and we will trust in the coaching and it’s a big deal but it’s just another game on Saturday. We will get after it and do what we know how to do.”
Ah Yat got considerable time under center in 2024 and flashed when he started in a second-round game at South Dakota State, throwing for 231 yards and a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns. Montana was alternating between Ah Yat and Logan Fife at quarterback throughout the season. Vigen thinks that rotation may have been tough for Ah Yat’s early development
“Looking at last year, there were times where you say he looked very good. Living in that world where he was probably looking over his shoulder a lot, that is challenging,” Vigen said. “My guess would be that he went into this season not looking over his shoulder and there’s comfort. And he’s a year older, stronger, more durable, all that kind of stuff. He’s just been more steady. Making really good decisions, knowing when to go after the big play, distributing the ball all over the place. He looks like he has a real plan based on what he sees.
“And his ability to extend plays, that’s show up before when he played but now that he’s the regular guy, it’s shown up a lot.”
Being a new arrival in the off-season, Lamson, who hails from Sacramento, had no familiarity with Bozeman. He did, however, know about the Big Sky Conference due to having a brother who played for UC Davis, and his head coach at Stanford being Troy Taylor, the former Sacramento State head man.
Lamson has familiarized himself with the new surroundings impressively and his comfort as the captain of the offensive ship seemed to come to a head when MSU was able to turn back any thought of a rally for the second straight season by UC Davis. The Aggies trailed 30-8 in the fourth quarter before ambushing the Bobcats with 20 unanswered points falling a two-point conversion attempt away from sending the game to overtime in 2024. Last Satruday, Davis cut it to 31-17 before Lamson slammed the door, rushing for more than about half of his 100 rushing yards and scoring the game-sealing touchdowns as MSU pulled away for a 38-17 win.
“That was big: going out there and having that knowledge about what happened last year, that game was 30-15 last year and we didn’t put it away on offense,” Vigen said. “This year, it’s 31-17 and we did cap it off offensively and Justin having the two big runs that ultimately did that. He’s a guy who plays with a lot of confidence. I think each one of these moments where he works through some things and ultimately as a team, we come out on top, I think that continues to build that confidence.”
MSU center JT Reed is probably as close to Lamson as anyone on the team and he has full faith in the transfer quarterback. The two are roommates as well as teammates.
“I have the utmost confidence in Justin,” Reed said. “I think Justin is the best quarterback in the country. I think he’s one of the best leaders in the country. I think he’s ready.”
The magnifying glass is always on the rivalry every year. But in 2025, it’s more like an electron microscope, a point that isn’t lost on the players on both sidelines. For the first time in the 124 meetings and the first time in the 135-year history of football in the state of Montana, both teams are undefeated in Big Sky play entering the showdown.
Montana enters the game with 22 seniors that are expected to play. But 11 of them have never played in the rivalry. Montana State has just nine seniors on its roster. Only wide receiver Chris Long will make his rivalry debut.
“They’ll get their first-hand experience as soon as the ball is snapped and their first snaps play out,” Leonard said. “We will be ready for it. We are a good team. We play well together, too. Good culture. Everyone will be ready to go, no matter what happens, either side of the ball.”
“Every single Cat-Griz week is the same,” Reed said. “Everybody knows what it is between us and them and it’s really just taking it one day at a time, one play at a time, one rep at a time.”
Vigen has grown into the game as well and he recognizes the importance of it runs around the clock, all year long. And whatever quarterback plays better within the intense atmosphere will provide their respective teams an edge.
“To have our two programs in the same state with these two rabid, passionate fan bases, you can’t take that for granted,” Vigen said. “The fact that we both fill our stadiums up regularly and it doesn’t matter who we play, it doesn’t matter who they play, it’s full. That in itself is kind of lost in this day and age.
“The fact that we are both in the same league in the same state and have had a level of success, this game does live here at the end of the season and even that has changed at a lot of different places. You don’t have the luxury of the conference allowing these games to be played on the last game of the regular season. There’s some internal forces, some external forces that have propped this game up even more over the last few years. It means so much to so many and that’s really the driving force. And the fact that we are both having the success we are having, it’s exemplifies that.”
The Bobcats and Grizzlies will kick off this Saturday at noon in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
