MISSOULA — A win or loss in the fiercest rivalry in the Treasure State can completely redefine a football season. Last year’s showdown between Montana State and Montana is the prime example.
MSU did not win a Big Sky Conference game until November, losing the first six league contests of Jeff Choate’s tenure. Montana ripped off five wins in its first six games and, despite losing three of four entering last year’s rivalry game, still had a chance to punch a ticket to the FCS playoffs if the Griz could just beat the struggling Bobcats in Missoula.
Instead, Montana State rushed for 368 yards behind a signature 142-yard, two-touchdown performance by true freshman quarterback Chris Murray. The visitors dominated the line of scrimmage and controlled the clock en rout to a 24-17 win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium that ended both team’s seasons.
“The whole thing is this: it’s obviously a very important game but winning it makes it more of a rivalry,” Montana State head coach Jeff Choate said on Monday. “You can tell there’s a heightened sense of urgency from the noise that is coming out of Missoula than there was a year ago. I don’t know that they respected us very much a year ago and that probably lead to the result, the outcome. I guess if anything else, we have their attention. I’m not sure they still respect us very much but at least we have their attention.”
The victory capped a four-win season for the Bobcats, but the program carried the momentum of the rivalry triumph throughout the off-season. The loss ended UM’s season at 6-5, keeping the Grizzlies out of the playoffs for just the third time since 1993.
“We are definitely bitter about last year,” Montana defensive end Tucker Schye said on Monday. “They stole one from us and we are going to take it back and then some.
“There’s a lot of animosity between us for sure. I think we have respect for each other but that’s about as far as it goes.”
The scenario is strikingly similar as Montana comes to Bozeman for the 117th rendition of the rivalry on Saturday afternoon. The Griz are 5-2 in Big Sky play, 7-3 overall and almost certainly need a victory to secure the second playoff berth of Bob Stitt’s three-year tenure.
“It goes without saying that any time you lose to those guys, it hurts a lot more,” UM senior wide receiver Makena Simis said following Montana’s 44-14 win over Northern Colorado last week. “Losing sucks in general but when you lose to those guys, it really stinks. We are going to have those same feelings. It’s a huge game for us and also, we are fighting to keep ourselves alive. It’s been playoffs for two weeks and this is a playoff game and it’s the Brawl of the Wild so it’s going to be a big one.”
The Bobcats have played seven ranked teams so far this season and have lost six of those contests. MSU is 4-3 in Big Sky play, 4-6 overall.
“We have one more opportunity to play and give it our best, which I know these young men will,” Choate said. “The 117th Brawl of the Wild, one of the greatest football rivalries in the country regardless of classification. The passion and energy surrounding this game are second to none. Very unique in the state of Montana where you have no NFL teams. We are the show, we being Montana State and Montana and this is Montana’s Super Bowl.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of raw raw speeches on either side before the game in the locker room because the build up will be appropriate for this type of contest.”
In Stitt’s first Cat-Griz game at the helm for UM, the Grizzlies sprinted to a 54-35 victory in Bozeman. The win marked Montana’s fifth straight win in Bozeman, a streak that dates back to 2005. Montana State’s win in Missoula last season marked its third in its last four trips to Missoula as the road team has won seven of the last eight rivalry games.
“We did it two years ago there,” UM wide receiver Josh Horner, a Great Falls native, said on Monday. “There’s no better feeling than winning at their house. It takes a little bit of extra focus to go into a hostile environment like that but I think we have performed pretty well on the road all year so we won’t change what we are doing and play our game.”
The Bobcats experienced a similar jolt by playing off the hostile Missoula crowd and running the ball down Montana’s collective throat. Using a variety of power, inside zone and quarterback draw plays, Montana State averaged six yards per rush, ran 62 times and possessed the ball for 38 minutes, 14 seconds.
“Our margin for error is very small and we did not make mistakes in that game,” Choate said. “We executed the game plan about as well as we could’ve. We didn’t turn the ball over, we took advantage of their mistakes, we controlled the field position with our kicking game, we had a goal line stand, we had some explosive plays.
“I certainly don’t anticipate any carry over. Every time you tee it up, it’s a different game, a different environment, a different team. I do think that there will be the same level of energy and passion on the field. Montana is going to come in here with an edge too and that’s going to increase that.”
Montana State beat its rival for the sixth time since 2002 despite completing just two passes.
“Their ability to run the ball, especially in the second half, that was a mental thing,” Stitt said on Monday.
“The mental stuff got to us and made us take more chances, guys getting out of their gaps trying to make some plays and pressing them a little bit. That’s what we focused on in the off-season that when those things happen to us in a game, it’s not a big deal. It was a big deal to our team last year. It hurt us when things went bad and they continued to get worse. We’ve been able to brush these things off this year and know something good is coming down the line.
Stitt is Montana’s first head coach in a generation to take the reigns without any previous ties to the program. But he was inundated with the rivalry right away and won his first battle with the Bobcats. After last season’s loss, Stitt’s program and coaching tenure have been under a magnifying glass. He is in an contract year and has yet to be offered a renewal, heightening the already intense setting.
Following the win over Northern Colorado, Montana’s fifth in its last six games, Stitt said he spent the evening before the UNC game in his office watching tape of the ‘Cats. Stitt said he broke down MSU film the morning of the Northern Colorado game.
Since last season, Montana has rallied around using 2016’s collapse as motivation. Stitt said he reminds his te
am of the disappointment on a daily basis at practice, making sure to emphasize the loss to the rivals. Stitt said the team has been cognizant of how many days remain until the rivalry game. The memory of the Bobcats dancing on the Griz logo on the middle of the Washington-Grizzly Stadium last season remains burned into the minds of Montana’s players, Stitt said.
“In the state, you get to this point in the season, it really is everything,” Stitt said. “You play all season and you get to this game and really, the previous games get wiped out. You aren’t gaining anything from the first 10 games going into this game because for our fans and everyone involved, you’ve gotta win the ball game. It is very, very important in our state. We have prepared for a long time mentally and physically for this thing. I think our guys are really going to be ready to do and play good football.”
“When you are 30, 40, 50 years old, you are going to think about it every year when it’s the Brawl of the Wild week, this is the game you are going to be thinking about.”’
Choate began his coaching career at Montana Western in Dillon before spending the first half of his 23-year odyssey in the high school ranks in Idaho. His first college job came in 2002 on former UM head coach Mick Delaney’s staff at Utah State. Choate counts Delaney and follow former Montana head coach Mick Delaney among his top mentors. The Saint Marie’s, Idaho native grew up going to Idaho Vandals’ games, married a girl from Dillon and has known about the Montana State-Montana rivalry for years. He brought a heightened sense of what to expect into his first rivalry showdown, a keen awareness he hopes to carry over this weekend in his first Cat-Griz game coaching in Bozeman.
“I understood this rivalry pretty well so I don’t think there’s a ton of differences in terms of how we are approaching this game,” Choate said. “I think we know a little more about each other, what our strengths and weaknesses are. I think I was pretty well prepared for this contest because of my background and where I’ve lived and who I’ve associated with. I knew this was a big dadgum deal when I got here. It didn’t take much of a learning curve.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved.
