For Dane Fletcher and Jeff Hansen, the decision wasn't really much of a decision at all.
"Growing up, other schools may have been looking at me, like Boise or what not, but if I was going to play football in college it was here," said Fletcher, a Bozeman High grad and Bobcat defensive end, in the days leading to Saturday's Cat-Griz game. "It wasn’t a choice. It wasn’t because my dad or anybody made me (go to MSU), it wasn’t a choice because that’s what I have in my heart. I’m a Bobcat through and through."
Fletcher and Hansen, a pair of two-time Bobcat captains, play their final scheduled game as Bobcats against ancient in-state rival Montana on Saturday. Senior Day marks the end of a long journey for all players, but for Hansen and Fletcher, the route to mid-field at Bobcat Stadium began earlier than most.
"I was always brought up as a Bobcat fan," said Hansen, a former standout at Great Falls CMR, "and it’s always one of those games that you can’t put into words how it makes you feel. It feels like (being) a little kid again, just really excited and all that kind of stuff. Growing up it just becomes part of you."
While Hansen and Fletcher stand together not only as pillars of the current Montana State team but as all-time great Bobcats, their path to Saturday's showdown have been divergent.
Hansen has been a rock of stability, starting 43 consecutive games in the offensive line, five shy of the school record. Fletcher battled injury as a junior and illness as a senior, playing 17 of 22 possible games in that span. Hansen is known for his remarkably steady play and even demeanor, Fletcher for his spectacular feats and raw emotion.
Hansen grew up in Great Falls, a football-crazed town with loyalty divided between the state's two Division I schools. Fletcher was born and raised in Bozeman by MSU grad parents and die-hard Bobcats, and although he starred in football from his days in the Gallatin Empire Lion's Club program he also excelled in hockey and baseball to the point of having options beyond high school in those sports.
A versatile lineman who has played all across the offensive front during his college career, Hansen enjoys the competition against Montana as an opportunity to rekindle friendships. "It’s pretty fun to see those guys again," he says of the players he will line up against on Saturday. "I played in the Shrine Game with Shawn Lebsock, I think he’s an excellent athlete and just a really good guy. Shann Schillinger played with me in the East-West Shrine Game, I thought he was a really nice person, also, and a pretty cool character. Austin Mullins, I went to high school with him. It’s pretty fun to play against those kinds of people and good football players."
Fletcher, one of the nation's leaders in tackles-per-loss and a candidate for the Buchanan Award as the Football Championship Subdivision's top defensive player, sees the divide created by The Divide War differently. "It’s weird how one week a year really separates you, and after five years now, we don’t talk," he says of players he's known in the Grizzly program. "There’s one guy who I might call after the season or what not, but no, it’s not like that, really."
While Hansen was establishing himself as a dominant and durable offensive lineman during his junior season, Fletcher's campaign came to a bitter end. In perhaps his finest hour, he suffered a severe knee injury at NAU in a game in which he had already blocked two kicks and forced and recovered a fumble. That injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season, including the Cat-Griz showdown in Missoula.
"I was definitely on the sideline (in Missoula), maybe more on the field than the sideline even though I didn’t have my pads on," he said with a laugh. "It was tough not playing that game, for sure," but Fletcher said that moment motivated a ferocious rehabilitation that has led to another spectacular season. "Ever since last November when I got surgery that’s when it kicked in, what do I have to work for, it’s this game for next year. The time’s come, and I’m hungry now. The time’s come."
Both Hansen and Fletcher say preparation for Cat-Griz, while more emotional, reverts to the same points that has led the team to a 7-3 mark and a spot in the national polls. Offensively, Hansen says, that means running the ball.
"That’s pretty much what we try to do every week is establish the run game," he said. "So it’s not really any different for us, it’s just execution. That’s kind of the same thing every week there, too. It comes down to execution and who’s going to execute better between our offensive front and their defensive front."
Fletcher is just as succinct. "As a defense, we need to stay within ourselves and not try to get out of hand and try to make it a one-man show. You play within your limits, (control) your gap, do your job, and in the long run that pays off."
While the distractions of Cat-Griz week can be monumental - "My phone’s off, I don’t need the outside sources this week," Fletcher said with a grin - both Fletcher and Hansen are glad to be playing in Bobcat Stadium on Saturday.
"It’s really awesome because we get four tickets," Hansen said with a laugh. "That’s what I look forward to. I was like, ‘Sweet, we get four tickets instead of two for our last game,’ because obviously we don’t know if we’ll be playing any further and if this is my last game I want everybody who’s important to me to be there."
Fletcher's reasons were similarly personal. "To be in front of my family and all the fans that have supported me since I was in the Lion’s Club (football program), this is huge. Couldn’t be any better how it’s set up. Now we just need to finish through."
If the Bobcats are able to 'finish through' on Saturday, it will be against a team that both players respect. "They’re just a bunch of guys that play really good football," Hansen said. "They seem to always be a little bit undersized, kind of like we are on the offensive front, but they’re just guys that go to work and they don’t make mistakes and they play really well together, good team chemistry, they play excitable, they’re a really good defense. They just play really well together, like I said, and they minimize mistakes and just show up to work every single day."
With some small but important scheme tweaks, Fletcher sees a similar challenge across the line of scrimmage. "It’s the same O-line that’s been there for the last five years. They’re big, (strong) guys. How do you combat that? You find your ways. That’s for us to find out."
For both Dane Fletcher and Jeff Hansen, Saturday's game is about more than just beating the Grizzlies. It's about the possibility of extending their Bobcat careers "if we're fortunate enough to play after this week," as Hansen says. "Every single game that we play is a gift. Us seniors don’t get to play many more football games, so every single (play) is the most important game we’ve ever played. You never know when you’ve played your last play."