Saturday, November 18
Missoula, Mont.
12 noon
Montana State University
at
Montana
Photo by: Garrett Becker
GAME #11: Bobcats Meet Grizzlies in Historic Showdown on Saturday
11/17/2023 9:21:00 AM | Football
MSU meets its ancient rival with sole possession of the Big Sky title on the line
BOZEMAN, Montana – Montana State has faced Montana on the gridiron 121 times previously, but none were exactly like the matchup that awaits the ancient rivals on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Bobcats meet No 3 UM at 12 noon in Missoula's Washington-Grizzly Stadium with sole possession of the 2023 Big Sky Championship at stake for the first time. FCS Playoff seeding also lurks as an overriding factor in this first-ever Brawl of the Wild featuring two top-five teams. But nothing, Bobcats head coach Brent Vigen said, matters more than the rivalry's deeply personal nature.
"With this game, there are so many layers," he said. "The first one is obviously the in-state rivalry, which is tremendous. It means so much to so many, and that starts with all our Montana natives on the roster, the 40-plus guys who, whether they have buddies on the team who they grew up with or played high school football with, we've got a couple guys on our team who have fathers, grandfathers, play over there, and we have multiple that had the same play here. You want to do everything you can for those guys have to have that ability for the next year to walk tall, to have those bragging rights. But more so than anything, we need to find a way as a football team to keep getting better."
The Cats and Griz each carry 6-1 Big Sky records into Saturday's showdown, sharing the league lead for the time being and setting up a winner-take-all tilt. Montana rolls into the rivalry game 9-1 overall with six straight wins, including three on the road against nationally-ranked opponents. Vigen lauds Saturday's opponent, citing UM's continuing improvement in 2023.
"Montana is an extremely talented, much-improved-through-the-course-of-the-season football team," Vigen said, "a team that's doing it with a very impressive defense and an offense that as of late has really been consistent and put up some big numbers both rushing and passing. And they're always good in the special teams."
Even with the unprecedented stakes and suffocating hype, the football matchup stands on its own merits. Montana State (8-2 overall) rushes for a Big Sky-leading 302.1 yards a game, second-most in the FCS, while Montana allows a conference-low 84.8 yards a game, fourth-best in the nation. MSU's 43.8 points per game leads the nation, while the Grizzlies allow a league-low 15.2 points per game, fourth nationally.
Six Bobcats gain at least 6.8 yards per rush, and five rush for at least 49.3 yards per game. Quarterback Sean Chambers has scored 14 rushing touchdowns, gaining 8.5 yards a carry and 65.5 yards a game, while his partner at the position, starter Tommy Mellott, rushes for 63.6 yards a game and 7.6 yards a carry. Running backs Julius Davis (67.9 and 6.8) and Jared White (51.0 and 8.8) round out the attack. Mellott's passing efficiency brings depth and balance to the offense. He completes 64.8% of his passes, with seven touchdown tosses. Chambers has nine scoring strikes. Ty McCullouch (59.5 yards per game) and Clevan Thomas Jr. (30.3) give MSU's receiving corps big-play punch.
Defensively, Montana counters with both familiar and emerging stars. Playmaking linebacker Braxton Hill leads the team with 83 tackles, 4.5 for a loss, and has 2.5 sacks and two interceptions. Riley Wilson (11 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks) and Levi Janacaro (7 tackles-for-loss and two sacks) also create havoc for opposing offenses.
Vigen said that opening up the team's downfield passing attack in Saturday's 57-14 win against Eastern Washington was an important step for the Bobcats. The team scored on pass plays of 63, 51 and 43 yards. "Offensively it felt like in the couple weeks prior we hadn't taken enough shots, and if we were going to throw the football we needed to take some shots downfield," he said. "We had some guys wide open in large part because the safeties were down inside 10 yards. That's not the first team that played us that way, but Ty and Clevan in particular are a couple of guys that can really stretch the field and we were able to get them in some open spaces and create big plays."
Quarterback Clifton McDowell has stabilized and propelled the Griz offense since emerging as the starter. The senior transfer completes 58.6% of his passes with a sterling 8-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and is UM's second-leading rusher at 49.1 yards per game. Freshman Eli Gillman gains 82.4 yards per game on the ground, while Kaelen White (52.6 yards per game), Junior Bergen (52.9) and Aaron Fontes (42.6) fuel the team's potent passing attack.
Linebackers Nolan Askelson and McCade O'Reilly pace the Bobcats defensively, each piling up 67 tackles. Brody Grebe's 11 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks and Ben Seymour's 8.0 tackles-for-loss and 5.5 sacks position that tandem as one of the best defensive end duos in the Big Sky. Tackles Black Schmidt and Sebastion Valdez get their work done on the inside, while safety Rylan Ortt (57 tackles, 5.5 for a loss) and Level Price Jr. (two tackles-for-loss) anchor the secondary.
On special teams, the Cats call on Brendan Hall to neutralize opponent return games. His 66 touchbacks on kickoffs leads the FCS, and Montana State leads the nation in net punting. Punt returner Taco Dowler and kickoff returner Marqui Johnson provide big play ability, and MSU has blocked five kicks this season.
Vigen said effectiveness in all three phases is crucial in showdowns such as Saturday. "We want to not only have the run game and the pass game within our offense complement each other," Vigen said, "but then also how our defense and our offense and our special teams all play together working in concert."
No environment is quite like a Cat-Griz game, but eight of Montana State's 10 games this season have been played in front of raucous sellout crowds. Vigen knows focus is necessary to thrive in such a setting. "Playing over there in a hostile environment is a challenge," he said. "I think our guys are not new to a hostile environment this year, and there's been some good and some bad with that, but this is an environment unlike any that we've seen. We're going to have to go over there and really be a focused football team that is concerned first and foremost with the play in front of them and executing that play and really playing our tails off. Our consistency and our effort and our preparation have been there all season, and there should be no reason for that to change as we head into our 11th game."
Vigen said that the importance of this year's Brawl of the Wild only adds to the rivalry's alure. "When I got this job I certainly recognized the importance of this game for just this game and the opponent and what it means to the state," he said. "But additionally, it felt like this being the last game of the year you want to be playing for a conference title, you certainly want to be playing for how the playoffs are going to shake out. To be three years into it, for all three years to come down to this Saturday in all those aspects, that's what we're working for. We've got to do our very best to still make it about the game and the tremendous opponent we're facing between the white lines, keep it that simple."
Saturday's game airs on CBS stations across Montana (KBZK in Bozeman, KXLF in Butte, KTVQ in Billings, KAJ in Kalispell, KRTV in Great Falls, KXLH in Helena, and KPAX in Missoula) and streams on ESPN+. The game is also available on Scripps television stations throughout the Mountain West (including Boise and Twin Falls, Idaho, Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, Denver, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah). Jay Kohn, Ty Gregorak, Marty Mornhinweg, Scott Breen and Kyle Hansen call the action. On the Bobcat Radio Network, airing on stations across Montana as well as on msubobcats.com and the Varsity app, Keaton Gillogly and former Bobcats RJ Fitzgerald and Dan Davies call the game.
#GoCatsGo
The fourth-ranked Bobcats meet No 3 UM at 12 noon in Missoula's Washington-Grizzly Stadium with sole possession of the 2023 Big Sky Championship at stake for the first time. FCS Playoff seeding also lurks as an overriding factor in this first-ever Brawl of the Wild featuring two top-five teams. But nothing, Bobcats head coach Brent Vigen said, matters more than the rivalry's deeply personal nature.
"With this game, there are so many layers," he said. "The first one is obviously the in-state rivalry, which is tremendous. It means so much to so many, and that starts with all our Montana natives on the roster, the 40-plus guys who, whether they have buddies on the team who they grew up with or played high school football with, we've got a couple guys on our team who have fathers, grandfathers, play over there, and we have multiple that had the same play here. You want to do everything you can for those guys have to have that ability for the next year to walk tall, to have those bragging rights. But more so than anything, we need to find a way as a football team to keep getting better."
The Cats and Griz each carry 6-1 Big Sky records into Saturday's showdown, sharing the league lead for the time being and setting up a winner-take-all tilt. Montana rolls into the rivalry game 9-1 overall with six straight wins, including three on the road against nationally-ranked opponents. Vigen lauds Saturday's opponent, citing UM's continuing improvement in 2023.
"Montana is an extremely talented, much-improved-through-the-course-of-the-season football team," Vigen said, "a team that's doing it with a very impressive defense and an offense that as of late has really been consistent and put up some big numbers both rushing and passing. And they're always good in the special teams."
Even with the unprecedented stakes and suffocating hype, the football matchup stands on its own merits. Montana State (8-2 overall) rushes for a Big Sky-leading 302.1 yards a game, second-most in the FCS, while Montana allows a conference-low 84.8 yards a game, fourth-best in the nation. MSU's 43.8 points per game leads the nation, while the Grizzlies allow a league-low 15.2 points per game, fourth nationally.
Six Bobcats gain at least 6.8 yards per rush, and five rush for at least 49.3 yards per game. Quarterback Sean Chambers has scored 14 rushing touchdowns, gaining 8.5 yards a carry and 65.5 yards a game, while his partner at the position, starter Tommy Mellott, rushes for 63.6 yards a game and 7.6 yards a carry. Running backs Julius Davis (67.9 and 6.8) and Jared White (51.0 and 8.8) round out the attack. Mellott's passing efficiency brings depth and balance to the offense. He completes 64.8% of his passes, with seven touchdown tosses. Chambers has nine scoring strikes. Ty McCullouch (59.5 yards per game) and Clevan Thomas Jr. (30.3) give MSU's receiving corps big-play punch.
Defensively, Montana counters with both familiar and emerging stars. Playmaking linebacker Braxton Hill leads the team with 83 tackles, 4.5 for a loss, and has 2.5 sacks and two interceptions. Riley Wilson (11 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks) and Levi Janacaro (7 tackles-for-loss and two sacks) also create havoc for opposing offenses.
Vigen said that opening up the team's downfield passing attack in Saturday's 57-14 win against Eastern Washington was an important step for the Bobcats. The team scored on pass plays of 63, 51 and 43 yards. "Offensively it felt like in the couple weeks prior we hadn't taken enough shots, and if we were going to throw the football we needed to take some shots downfield," he said. "We had some guys wide open in large part because the safeties were down inside 10 yards. That's not the first team that played us that way, but Ty and Clevan in particular are a couple of guys that can really stretch the field and we were able to get them in some open spaces and create big plays."
Quarterback Clifton McDowell has stabilized and propelled the Griz offense since emerging as the starter. The senior transfer completes 58.6% of his passes with a sterling 8-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and is UM's second-leading rusher at 49.1 yards per game. Freshman Eli Gillman gains 82.4 yards per game on the ground, while Kaelen White (52.6 yards per game), Junior Bergen (52.9) and Aaron Fontes (42.6) fuel the team's potent passing attack.
Linebackers Nolan Askelson and McCade O'Reilly pace the Bobcats defensively, each piling up 67 tackles. Brody Grebe's 11 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks and Ben Seymour's 8.0 tackles-for-loss and 5.5 sacks position that tandem as one of the best defensive end duos in the Big Sky. Tackles Black Schmidt and Sebastion Valdez get their work done on the inside, while safety Rylan Ortt (57 tackles, 5.5 for a loss) and Level Price Jr. (two tackles-for-loss) anchor the secondary.
On special teams, the Cats call on Brendan Hall to neutralize opponent return games. His 66 touchbacks on kickoffs leads the FCS, and Montana State leads the nation in net punting. Punt returner Taco Dowler and kickoff returner Marqui Johnson provide big play ability, and MSU has blocked five kicks this season.
Vigen said effectiveness in all three phases is crucial in showdowns such as Saturday. "We want to not only have the run game and the pass game within our offense complement each other," Vigen said, "but then also how our defense and our offense and our special teams all play together working in concert."
No environment is quite like a Cat-Griz game, but eight of Montana State's 10 games this season have been played in front of raucous sellout crowds. Vigen knows focus is necessary to thrive in such a setting. "Playing over there in a hostile environment is a challenge," he said. "I think our guys are not new to a hostile environment this year, and there's been some good and some bad with that, but this is an environment unlike any that we've seen. We're going to have to go over there and really be a focused football team that is concerned first and foremost with the play in front of them and executing that play and really playing our tails off. Our consistency and our effort and our preparation have been there all season, and there should be no reason for that to change as we head into our 11th game."
Vigen said that the importance of this year's Brawl of the Wild only adds to the rivalry's alure. "When I got this job I certainly recognized the importance of this game for just this game and the opponent and what it means to the state," he said. "But additionally, it felt like this being the last game of the year you want to be playing for a conference title, you certainly want to be playing for how the playoffs are going to shake out. To be three years into it, for all three years to come down to this Saturday in all those aspects, that's what we're working for. We've got to do our very best to still make it about the game and the tremendous opponent we're facing between the white lines, keep it that simple."
Saturday's game airs on CBS stations across Montana (KBZK in Bozeman, KXLF in Butte, KTVQ in Billings, KAJ in Kalispell, KRTV in Great Falls, KXLH in Helena, and KPAX in Missoula) and streams on ESPN+. The game is also available on Scripps television stations throughout the Mountain West (including Boise and Twin Falls, Idaho, Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, Denver, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah). Jay Kohn, Ty Gregorak, Marty Mornhinweg, Scott Breen and Kyle Hansen call the action. On the Bobcat Radio Network, airing on stations across Montana as well as on msubobcats.com and the Varsity app, Keaton Gillogly and former Bobcats RJ Fitzgerald and Dan Davies call the game.
#GoCatsGo
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