Caden Dowler doffs the turnover hat
Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services
BOBCAT GAME DAY NOTEBOOK #12: MSU Looks to Turn the Tide with Turnovers
11/22/2025 11:00:00 AM | Football
Bobcats, Grizzlies meet with the stakes as high as ever
BOZEMAN, Mont. (Nov. 22, 2025) – Much has been made through the last couple of months of Montana State's Turnover Hat. Commissioned and implemented by defensive coordinator Shawn Howe early in the season, the Turnover Hat was produced by the Rocky Mountain Hat Company in Bozeman using Montana-made materials.
The materials for the leather 'M' on the front and band around the hat were raised in-state, and the hat produced in Montana. Whenever a Bobcat defensive player produces a turnover, he returns to the sideline and dons the hat.
Howe's reasoning behind the symbolism of a cowboy hat? "It's something that's in our culture," said Howe, who played college football at Rocky Mountain in Billings and is the longest-tenured current MSU assistant coach. "It's a bunch of kids cowboying up and getting the football."
Without question, the frequency of MSU's Turnover Hat emerging from it's tailor-made carrying case will be a large determinant of the game's outcome. The Cats forced six turnovers in the season's first six games, winning four of them. Since then, MSU has 12 takeaways. The team won all five of those games.
Both teams have thrived in football's give-and-take battle. The Grizzlies' 22 takeaways this season is second in the FCS, and its 1.0 turnover ratio is sixth. The Bobcats have turned the ball over only eight times on the season, 10th-lowest nationally, and MSU's turnover margin of 0.81 is seventh.
* * * * *
The Bobcats enter today's showdown with a mostly clean bill of health. Cornerback Seth Johnson has missed the last two games, but he is expected to play today. Nose tackle Paul Brott has been hampered by an injury lately, but he's also expected to go.
* * * * *
While the details of today's game point to it as one of the most dramatic, significant showdowns in the 127 seasons since the teams first got together in 1897, zooming out offers a slightly different picture. We're currently in the glory days of this rivalry.
These ancient antagonists have gotten together with both teams nationally ranked on 13 previous occasions. One dozen of those came in the last 20 years.
The teams first met with both ranked in at least one of the national polls in 1998, when the Grizzlies held off the Bobcats in muddy Washington-Grizzly Stadium, 28-21. The next such showdown occurred in only slightly better field conditions in Bobcat Stadium in 2005, a 16-6 Montana State win in Travis Lulay and Jeff Bolton's final game as Bobcats.
That 2005 clash set the stage. After a 2006 home win by the Grizzlies, every season but one from 2009 to 2014 pitted ranked opponents. Both teams have been ranked every season since 2019, and in four of the five both teams have held down top 10 spots. In 2023, like this season a game in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the teams were each ranked in the top four (UM was No. 3, the Cats No. 4). A full accounting is at the bottom.
* * * * *
While today's game takes on historic significance – the first game between the Cats and Griz that decide the Big Sky title outright, the first matchup between the teams with each carrying a 7-0 record, the first with each ranked in the top three of the national polls – the notion of these ancient rivals playing important late-season games is nothing new.
The rivalry game moved to the final game of the regular season in 1993. The Cats and Griz met first with each team in the national polls in 1998, but in 2005 things really got cooking. No. 22 Montana State beat third-ranked Montana 16-6 in Travis Lulay's final game in the Blue and Gold, and beginning with that game 12 of the 19 games between the two pitted nationally-ranked foes. The 2023 game saw No. 3 UM top fourth-ranked Montana State in Missoula, 37-7. That is the highest-ranked meeting between the two.
Until today.
Nov. 22, 2025: #3 Montana State at #2 Montana
Nov. 23, 2024: #2 MSU 34, #10 Montana 11 at Bozeman
Nov. 18, 2023: #3 Montana 37, #4 MSU 7 at Missoula
Nov. 19, 2022: #3 MSU 55, #16 Montana 21 at Bozeman
Nov. 20, 2021: #7 Montana 29, #3 MSU 10 at Missoula
Nov. 23, 2019: #8 MSU 48, #3 UM 14 at Bozeman
Nov. 22, 2014: #13 Montana 34, #12 Montana State 7 at Missoula
Nov. 23, 2013: #5 Montana 28, #13 Montana State 14 at Bozeman
Nov. 19, 2011: #7 Montana 36, at #1 MSU 10 at Bozeman
Nov. 20, 2010: #8 MSU 21, at #11 Montana 16 at Missoula
Nov. 21, 2009: #1 Montana 39, at #24 MSU 13 at Bozeman
Nov. 18, 2006: #2 Montana 13, #15 MSU 7 at Missoula
Nov. 19, 2005: #22 MSU 16, #3 Montana 6 at Bozeman
Nov. 21, 1998: #6 Montana 28, #21 MSU 21 at Missoula
#GoCatsGo
The materials for the leather 'M' on the front and band around the hat were raised in-state, and the hat produced in Montana. Whenever a Bobcat defensive player produces a turnover, he returns to the sideline and dons the hat.
Howe's reasoning behind the symbolism of a cowboy hat? "It's something that's in our culture," said Howe, who played college football at Rocky Mountain in Billings and is the longest-tenured current MSU assistant coach. "It's a bunch of kids cowboying up and getting the football."
Without question, the frequency of MSU's Turnover Hat emerging from it's tailor-made carrying case will be a large determinant of the game's outcome. The Cats forced six turnovers in the season's first six games, winning four of them. Since then, MSU has 12 takeaways. The team won all five of those games.
Both teams have thrived in football's give-and-take battle. The Grizzlies' 22 takeaways this season is second in the FCS, and its 1.0 turnover ratio is sixth. The Bobcats have turned the ball over only eight times on the season, 10th-lowest nationally, and MSU's turnover margin of 0.81 is seventh.
* * * * *
The Bobcats enter today's showdown with a mostly clean bill of health. Cornerback Seth Johnson has missed the last two games, but he is expected to play today. Nose tackle Paul Brott has been hampered by an injury lately, but he's also expected to go.
* * * * *
While the details of today's game point to it as one of the most dramatic, significant showdowns in the 127 seasons since the teams first got together in 1897, zooming out offers a slightly different picture. We're currently in the glory days of this rivalry.
These ancient antagonists have gotten together with both teams nationally ranked on 13 previous occasions. One dozen of those came in the last 20 years.
The teams first met with both ranked in at least one of the national polls in 1998, when the Grizzlies held off the Bobcats in muddy Washington-Grizzly Stadium, 28-21. The next such showdown occurred in only slightly better field conditions in Bobcat Stadium in 2005, a 16-6 Montana State win in Travis Lulay and Jeff Bolton's final game as Bobcats.
That 2005 clash set the stage. After a 2006 home win by the Grizzlies, every season but one from 2009 to 2014 pitted ranked opponents. Both teams have been ranked every season since 2019, and in four of the five both teams have held down top 10 spots. In 2023, like this season a game in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the teams were each ranked in the top four (UM was No. 3, the Cats No. 4). A full accounting is at the bottom.
* * * * *
While today's game takes on historic significance – the first game between the Cats and Griz that decide the Big Sky title outright, the first matchup between the teams with each carrying a 7-0 record, the first with each ranked in the top three of the national polls – the notion of these ancient rivals playing important late-season games is nothing new.
The rivalry game moved to the final game of the regular season in 1993. The Cats and Griz met first with each team in the national polls in 1998, but in 2005 things really got cooking. No. 22 Montana State beat third-ranked Montana 16-6 in Travis Lulay's final game in the Blue and Gold, and beginning with that game 12 of the 19 games between the two pitted nationally-ranked foes. The 2023 game saw No. 3 UM top fourth-ranked Montana State in Missoula, 37-7. That is the highest-ranked meeting between the two.
Until today.
Nov. 22, 2025: #3 Montana State at #2 Montana
Nov. 23, 2024: #2 MSU 34, #10 Montana 11 at Bozeman
Nov. 18, 2023: #3 Montana 37, #4 MSU 7 at Missoula
Nov. 19, 2022: #3 MSU 55, #16 Montana 21 at Bozeman
Nov. 20, 2021: #7 Montana 29, #3 MSU 10 at Missoula
Nov. 23, 2019: #8 MSU 48, #3 UM 14 at Bozeman
Nov. 22, 2014: #13 Montana 34, #12 Montana State 7 at Missoula
Nov. 23, 2013: #5 Montana 28, #13 Montana State 14 at Bozeman
Nov. 19, 2011: #7 Montana 36, at #1 MSU 10 at Bozeman
Nov. 20, 2010: #8 MSU 21, at #11 Montana 16 at Missoula
Nov. 21, 2009: #1 Montana 39, at #24 MSU 13 at Bozeman
Nov. 18, 2006: #2 Montana 13, #15 MSU 7 at Missoula
Nov. 19, 2005: #22 MSU 16, #3 Montana 6 at Bozeman
Nov. 21, 1998: #6 Montana 28, #21 MSU 21 at Missoula
#GoCatsGo
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