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A GAME IN PHOTOS – Jason Bacaj on 124th rivalry between Cats & Griz

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The 124th battle between fierce rivals Montana and Montana State lived up to the billing on November 22, 2025. A game with six lead changes went back and forth until Montana State went on a seven-minute drive to close to game and secure a 31-28 victory. The win is MSU’s seventh over Montana in the last nine rivalry games and helped the Bobcats secure their third Big Sky Conference title in the last four seasons.

Skyline Sports had four photographers — Brooks Nuanez, Blake Hempstead, Jason Bacaj & Sydney Emond — at the greatest rivalry game in college football. Here are Jason’s best photos from Saturday.

JASON BACAJ, SKYLINE SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER

Montana State head coach Brent Vigen is the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year for the second season in a row after helping MSU to its third Big Sky title in four years/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck became the Big Sky’s all-time leader in total wins and conference wins during UM’s 11-1 start to this season/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana State quarterback Justin Lamson had 255 yards of total offense in MSU’s 31-28 win in Missoula in his rivalry debut/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana State captain Paul Brott played through an ankle injury in his final regular-season rivalry game/ by Jason Bacaj
Montana State freshman Dane Steel eludes Montana junior linebacker Peyton Wing / by Jason Bacaj

Montana quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat was named first-team All-Big Sky in his first season as the full-time starter under center for the Griz/ by Jason Bacaj

Michael Wortham as a first-team All-Big Sky selection as an all-purpose player in his first season at Montana/ by Jason Bacaj
Montana State junior Taco Dowler looks for space against the Griz defense/by Jason Bacaj

Montana sophomore Caleb Otlewski after making a play behind the line of scrimmage/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana State senior Julius Davis rushed for 106 yards against Montana/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana State’s Colson Coon smashes Montana’s Michael Wortham on a kick off/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana’s Eli Gillman was named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year this week/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana senior Drew Deck breaks a tackle/ by Jason Bacaj

Montana senior center Dillon Botner calls out pre-snap alignments/ by Jason Bacaj

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About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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