One of the most talked about things in the entire world of sports this past year has been the seismic changes in the landscape of college athletics. This isn’t the time or place to get into most of that, as I’m sure everyone has their opinion on what parts of it are good, bad, or to be determined. On Saturday the 23rd in the college town of Bozeman Montana, none of it mattered anyway.
All that mattered at the home of the Montana State Bobcats was pursuit of history against the school’s fiercest rival – “that school from Missoula” as any Bozeman resident would tell you. This school is the University of Montana, home of the Grizzlies. Since 1897, the Bobcats and Grizzlies have been facing off in football to determine a winner of the “Brawl of the Wild”. The game is everything right with what used to be, or in this case still is, college athletics. Mostly local kids that all share in the same Montana values dividing themselves on either side of the Gallatin or Bitterroot valley for the sake of competition. ESPN’s flagship Saturday program College Gameday even made an appearance at Bobcat Stadium a few years ago to cover this game, a resounding win for the home Bobcats.
The stakes for this year’s edition of the Brawl of the Wild have never been higher for Montana State. For the first time in school history, they came into this game with a perfect 11-0 record. A win against the Grizzlies would not only return the Great Divide trophy back to Bozeman, a 306 pound behemoth of a trophy depicting a football at the top of a mountain. It would cap off the first ever undefeated season in MSU history, and give them an even clearer path towards hosting their side of the bracket in the upcoming FCS playoffs (more on that later).
For me personally, I ironically had this game on my calendar ever since a trip into “enemy territory” while visiting Missoula over the summer. With a girlfriend that works for Montana State, she was the first to notice on a promotional poster that this year’s edition of Cats-Grizz happened to fall on our one year anniversary. Weeks later, the plans were in place to spend the afternoon of our anniversary cheering on the Cats to an outright Big Sky Conference championship.
The day began early with tailgaters lighting their campfires to stay warm, although doing so once the sun came up was hardly a problem. For a November day in Montana, there was plenty of sunshine coming down as MSU made a grand entrance with their traditional Cat Prowl walk into the stadium. The cheer squad, dance team, marching band, and finally the football team all make their way down a path lined with fans in blue and yellow.
Not too long after this, it was time for fans to enter the stadium as well. We made our way to our 40 yard line seats in plenty of time to see all of the further pregame festivities. First, the Bobcats honored their Seniors ahead of their final regular season home game and final chance to line up against the Grizzlies. Then, the national anthem with a jet flyover, followed by the Bobcats running out of the tunnel in Montana fashion with members of the national-championship winning MSU rodeo team on horseback leading them out while fireworks were set off at field level.
This video is from a past version of the Brawl of the Wild played in Bozeman, but still paints the picture:
The pride for the sanctity of this game could be felt already. Fans were friendly and warm in the stands, but there was an intensity to the moment of rallying around one common goal – beating Montana. The night before this game, the Montana State women’s volleyball team took care of Montana 3-0 to set the tone for the weekend. On this Saturday in Bozeman, the only other three letters you could see a Cats fan wearing besides MSU were “FTG”. We’ll let you figure out what that might stand for, but if you need a hint, the “G” refers to the mascot of that school from Missoula.
Montana State, a very run heavy team, took the ball first and ran the ball well on a 14 play drive for a touchdown. The Grizz would answer at the end of the first quarter with a field goal, but again Montana State was ready to keep control of the game with a touchdown pass to jump ahead 14-3. The Bobcats had a home crowd which, as the popular show Yellowstone would tell you, was full of fans that only cared “who the Bobcats are playing”. This clip was used on the video board prior to kickoff.
The Montana offense did not look capable of moving the ball much, even without any wind, snow, or rain which was expected. The very knowledgeable Montana State fans in attendance felt this early and slowly but surely began turning Bobcat Stadium into the #1 place to be in the Treasure State on a late November afternoon. Confidence was high they would return serve after losing this game in Missoula last year. By halftime, the Bobcats were up 20-3, executing the final drive of the half perfectly to add three points on the final play.
Just 30 minutes away from a perfect season, Montana State did not mess around in the second half. They even had the benefit of the rapidly changing Montana valley weather patterns on their side. Immediately after Adam Jones, a Missoula native that decided to cross the “Great Divide” to become a Bobcat scored a touchdown late in the third to put MSU ahead 27-3, the ice, snow, and high winds arrived. With Montana being forced to drop back pass the rest of the game and Montana State being built to run it in these conditions, everything about this Brawl was over other than the clock running out.
This created the defining moment of the latest installment of the Brawl of the Wild. Bobcats fans simply could not be bothered by the fact they were being pelted by ice, were getting soaked, and nearly blown away. With a great view of the MSU sideline from my seats, the team didn’t care either as they encouraged even more noise from the stands and were feeling the celebration. On the Montana sideline, a different picture entirely was seen as the conditions made the reality setting in of a loss to the Cats all the more difficult. For all of Bozeman, there was no greater sight than forcing the Grizz to stand out in the wintery conditions while running up the score.
Even for someone like myself, not born and raised in Montana, and not wearing a jacket with a hood that offered any protection against the ice, a Bobcats beanie and soon-to-be soaking wet fleece jacket was all I needed to enjoy the game through my new vantage point of in between my arms as I shielded my face from ice.
Joining in on “Go Cats Go” chants and dancing along was a good way to keep warm. Even my girlfriend Marie, who I’m honored is willing to attend sporting events with me despite never being all that much of a football fan, checked if I was OK during this brief storm, but the vibes could not be beat. To live in Montana is to learn how to enjoy the toughness of winter, and I genuinely enjoyed every second.
As the clock ticked to zero, the MSU student section rushed the field and promptly followed the team carrying the trophy towards the locker room. Montana State was conference champions, Brawl of the Wild champions, and undefeated at 12-0. Still early on a Saturday afternoon with many of the streets around the stadium closed down, and Thanksgiving week upcoming meaning no classes for students, the party spread out into the town.
It was here that even more reasons that this rivalry is unique and special were realized. Naturally, blue and gold still dominated the town deep into the night, but small groups of maroon could still be found from Grizz fans sticking around before making the drive back to Missoula. At the bar for a postgame drink, Marie and I ran into one such fan who was a female student at Montana. Just mere moments after the entire bar chanted things like “FTG” and “Go Cats Go!” at the top of their lungs, this Grizzlies fan greeted us in all Bobcats gear with nothing but grace. She congratulated us on the win and smiled. To live in Montana is also to understand the unique values of the state, like realizing there are things bigger than all of us such as living off the land, appreciating nature without personally affecting it’s beauty, and helping your neighbor. I have never personally seen the line between heated rivalry and companionship blended together better than I did Saturday in Bozeman.
The vast majority of the kids on the field for this game may never get a chance to play in the NFL, but just by suiting up for Cats-Grizz they can be legends in their small hometowns. For example, just a brief scroll of the Montana State roster reveals players from places like Brockton with a population of 358 as of 2020 or Fairview with 896, or Melstone with just 126. There’s even a player from Red Lodge, a place I can personally say I visited over the summer on another weekend trip with the girlfriend. Just imagine calling a place with this type of scenery home:
Next up for both of these teams will be the FCS playoffs. For Montana State, their dream conclusion to the regular season got even better when the #1 team in the country – North Dakota State – lost to South Dakota. This meant MSU was in the driver’s seat to be the new #1, which they are as the top national seed in the playoffs. Their side of the bracket will go through Bozeman and Bobcat Stadium, as the temperatures continue to plummet here in Montana and even more of a home field advantage can be built by a team that embodies every ounce of the blue collar spirit their town has.
Montana will also host a playoff game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, a concrete jungle of a stadium carved into a hill that gets bone-rattling loud. I can speak to this from experience having been in attendance for the Grizzlies first game of the season on Labor Day weekend. As the #14 seed, they will host Tennessee State on the 30th.
Montana State’s next game won’t be until December 7th, as the Cats have a first round bye. They await the winner of UT Martin and New Hampshire. The national championship will be played in Frisco, Texas on January 6th. The Grizzlies were actually in this game a year ago, losing to South Dakota State, but face an uphill battle to return this year. The first step will be picking themselves up off the mat following a loss to the Bobcats that was never even close.
Just listen to Grizzlies head coach Bobby Hauck awkwardly not know how to handle a question about being 2-4 against Montana State in his last six games for Montana to get even more of a sense of how resilient of a win this was for the entire Bozeman and MSU community.
The Grizzlies ran into a viciously determined, focused, and gritty Bobcats team that scaringly could look past the rivalry aspect of the matchup and simply handle it as any other game. There was nothing at all that was going to stand in between the Bobcats and a 12-0 season on Saturday, least of all Montana.
Should MSU advance to the national championship, it would be there first appearance since 2021 when losing to North Dakota State. The Bison also knocked the Bobcats out of last year’s playoffs with a dramatic one point overtime win in the second round on a missed extra point. The two state schools from the great northern wilderness are on opposite sides of the bracket this year, meaning they cannot meet until Frisco. The Bobcats last won a national championship in 1984, a team they honored earlier this season with 1984 helmets for a home game.
As for Marie and I, we will be hoping to break out her Cats Hat and my now-dry beanie for an upcoming playoff game at Bobcat Stadium, but not before traveling to another gem of a college sports town for Thanksgiving in Omaha, Nebraska.
On Twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!
The Broadway Breakdown 
Leave a comment