In college football, they call November “Big Man Month.” Unforgettable former Montana State head coach Mike Kramer made a habit of referencing the moniker.
And “Big Man Month” starts Saturday for Montana State when the Bobcats travels to Pocatello to face Big Sky Conference upstart Idaho State, a team with a 6-3 record facing a pivotal stretch that will define if ISU can snap a playoff drought that dates back to 1983.
Under head coach Brent Vigen, the Bobcats are 15-2 in November, and they’ve lost to only one team — rival Montana — with both of those games on the road in Vigen’s first two trips to Missoula.
The sparkling record isn’t a coincidence. MSU is built to play its best football down the stretch.
“I just think it’s the process — the way that we train and the way that we go about things,” senior captain offensive lineman Titan Fleischmann said. “Since my time here, as the season goes on, we find a way to solidify and get better, like concrete. We find a way to get better every year I’ve been here. I think it’s a process that Coach Vigen has instilled, and I think it’s a testament to (strength) coach (Sean) Herrin and all the other coaches. We don’t slip when it gets cold, and we don’t slip when it gets toward the end of the year. We get stronger. We get rolling.”
Despite the two losses to the Grizzlies, the Bobcats are 3-2 against them in November. They’re also 12-0 against nine other Big Sky teams. MSU’s sustained success the final month of the regular season has played a big role in MSU avoiding playoff games in November; Montana State has received a first-round bye in each of the past five seasons.
That process includes rotating a multitude of players during games — not just sporadically, but extensively, throughout the season. MSU basically runs two practices in one during its spring and fall camps, as well as throughout the season, which allows numerous players to receive offensive and defensive repetitions. Those repetitions have a trickle-down effect, giving the coaches more personnel ready for games and keeping players fresh late in games and late in the season.
A byproduct of the repetitions and rotation is the creation of depth, and that has been highlighted this season, as eight MSU starters, including four captains, have missed multiple games with injuries, not to mention other starters who have missed single games. Numerous backups have also missed games throughout the season. And MSU still sits in a tie for first place in the Big Sky Conference standings and as the No. 1 team in the most recent FCS Playoff Committee’s Top 10 rankings.
“That game on Saturday [a 61-7 win over Cal Poly] is honestly the most we’ve gotten guys into the game on both sides of the ball,” said Vigen, who is 54-11 in all other months. “But somewhere along the line, guys are going to have to step up. What does your depth look like? So that whatever the injuries might be, they just don’t decimate you. You don’t become this different team.”
Despite all the injuries, MSU has not been decimated in the least. In fact, statistically you wouldn’t notice there were any injuries at all. The Bobcats are 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big Sky, and they lead the league in seven of the 10 major statistical team categories: points scored, points allowed, total offense per play, total defense per game and per play, rushing defense and pass efficiency offense. They’re second in the other three: total offense per game, rushing offense and pass efficiency defense.
That player development occurs not only in the offseason and during game-week practices but also in games, which is a big key in Vigen’s eyes.
“And in saying that, you need some guys to look a little bit different in November than they did in August,” Vigen said. “It might not happen at a position group that you anticipated — who knows where it’s going to happen. So, I think we’ve done a good job of being able to fill some holes when it comes to November, and that’s still out in front of us. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, but I do feel good about how our depth has continued to come along this fall, and I think that was evident on Saturday, where our second and third team goes out there and doesn’t give up a touchdown on defense. They got the ball moved, but they really held firm.
“And then offensively, we were able to score a couple times. I think that’s evidence of even that group getting more confident, better. And who knows who’s out there in that second half on Saturday who, at some point the rest of the way, is going to have to step in. A lot goes into it, but ultimately, you hope it’s mostly about a team that’s defining itself and is becoming as consistent as possible and as confident as possible when the games matter the most.”
The roughest stretch for MSU was a two-game span that ended with a difficult upset loss to Idaho and was followed by a poorly timed bye week. The Bobcats beat Northern Arizona(a team they currently share first place in the Big Sky standing) 28-14 at home behind backup quarterback Patrick Duchien, who made his first college start in place of Justin Lamson. Backup running back Colson Coon rambled for 199 yards on just 18 carries after starter Adam Jones was lost after just one carry. Wide receiver Carter Dahlke made his first start in place of Taco Dowler and came through with seven receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown. All three injured players — Lamson, Jones and Dowler — are team captains.
Also out for one or both of those games were linebacker Neil Daily, defensive tackles Hunter Sharbono and Josiah Asuega, defensive end Dominic Solano and safety Caden Dowler (another captain).
Despite all the individual success, the last-second loss to Idaho clouded the fact that MSU has numerous players ready not only to play but to compete at a high level.
Vigen also cites his team’s mental acuity in how it approaches games and adversity.
“Well, not making any one game too big or too small, for sure,” he said. “We’ve taken the approach that every game is the big game, and I think that part has allowed us to not overlook a game that’s in September or October. That doesn’t mean we’ve won them all. But I think you can continue to improve your mindset through that, and you can hopefully get to November with a pretty strong feeling of who you are as a football team. You’ve been able to develop consistency with your habits and how you go about things, and then our ability to play a lot of guys. Each year has been a little bit different.”
After dropping the final two games of the 2023 season — a lopsided loss to Montana and a second-round playoff loss to North Dakota State — the Bobcats weren’t fazed, rattling off 15 straight wins to start the 2024 season. More adversity awaited, however, as they lost the title game to NDSU and then lost their first two games of the 2025 season, including their annual Gold Rush game to South Dakota State in double overtime. Once again MSU regrouped and won its next 19 games, including the national title game over Illinois State in overtime, before losing to Idaho this season.
The Idaho loss was not only MSU’s first under Vigen to a team with a losing record, but the Vandals also hadn’t won a game up to that point — they’re 4-5 now after that 0-4 start.
The Bobcats have since flexed their ability to stay focused and played arguably their best football, defeating Eastern Washington 56-20, coming back from a 10-point halftime deficit for a 38-33 win over then league-leading Weber State and trouncing Cal Poly 61-7 this past Saturday.
Vigen’s own coaching philosophies play a big role in MSU’s success as well. He doesn’t get too down after losses, and he still dissects all of his units even after big wins.
“Well, still finding those things to criticize,” Vigen said. “I think that’s where it starts. You can gloss over things as a coach because of the way the game went, or you can choose to coach it all up, and that was the charge, because there are plenty of things. Sometimes they show up — like I said, that early kickoff return, we could have been tackled inside the 20, and that whole story looks a lot different. And even offensively, we get the takeaway in their territory, and before we know it, we’re in a third-and-long or second-and-really-long, and then we had a penalty in there, and we find a way through that.
“So, it’s not just about the play we made to get ourselves out of that. What put us in that position? Defensively, we had a couple plays where our pressure overcame maybe a deficit on the coverage side. So, I think that’s the biggest thing: applaud the things that went really well but still coach up the things that we can improve upon. You’re never going to be perfect, but boy — OK, how does it feel to be clicking, so to speak, with each side of the ball feeding off one another? Recognize that. But then, more than anything, let’s go back to the week. What did we do to put ourselves in that position? How have we continued to grow as a team? And really, continue to coach them. I guess that’s the most important thing.”
It’s a lot of “things” that have led to strong November runs for the Bobcats, who will travel by bus to Pocatello for this week’s game against Idaho State (6-3 overall, 3-3 Big Sky), which kicks off at 4 p.m.
