Entering the last rivalry showdown between the Bobcats and the Grizzlies, Montana State’s defense had gaudy statistics. MSU had not surrendered a single point in the third quarter to an FCS opponent and the Bobcats scored more points against Weber State (66) than they had given up all conference play up through the second Saturday in November.
MSU’s defense has been tested much more over the last four games, each which has still resulted in victory. And on Saturday, the Bobcats may face their stiffest test yet as a Montana team that scored 28 on MSU in Missoula on November 22 comes into Bobcat Stadium with a head of steam. UM has scored 102 points through two playoff games and have looked nearly unstoppable offensively.
MSU has still been stout defensively during the playoffs, leading to a 21-13 win over Yale and a 44-28 win over Stephen F. Austin. But the performances have not been as salty as the ones leading up to the last month, although quality of opponent certainly has something to do with that.
The Bobcats allowed just 119 points in their first nine Football Championship Subdivision games (13.2 points per game) but have given up 69 in the last three (23.0 ppg), including 28 each to this week’s FCS semifinal game opponent, Montana, and Stephen F. Austin this past Friday. MSU allowed a team to score on consecutive drives just once all season against FCS teams. It’s happened twice in the last three games.
Cal Poly did it first, but that came in the fourth quarter with MSU holding a 27-3 lead. When the Grizzlies accomplished it, the game went from a 17-7 Bobcat lead to a 21-17 deficit and MSU needed an interception return for a touchdown by safety Caden Dowler and a blocked field goal by Zac Crews to set up another touchdown to put the Bobcats back in front 31-21.
This past Saturday in an FCS playoff quarterfinal game, SFA matched Montana by scoring to finish the first half and then taking the opening kickoff of the second half and driving for a score to cut a 24-0 lead to 24-14 and the Lumberjacks managed to hang around for the rest of the evening.
MSU is also nursing injuries to defensive tackle Paul Brott, defensive end Zac Crews, linebacker Xavier Ahrens and nickel/safety JJ Dolan. Starting linebacker Neil Daily missed the second-round playoff game against Yale due to illness. And starting nickel junior Tayden Gray appeared to get knocked out against SFA , too.
The Bobcats hadn’t allowed more than 17 points in regulation to an FCS team all season until running into the Grizzlies three weeks ago in Missoula where UM tallied 28 points, while holding MSU to 31 points – its lowest output in BSC games. Two weeks later, Yale held the Bobcats to 21 points.
So, the evidence exists.
The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are coming off their two best performances – three if you count the solid effort they put in, in defeat against MSU – as they prepare for their visit to Bobcat Stadium this Saturday.
“You don’t always get a chance to go right your wrongs, so we’re pretty excited to go do that,” UM senior center Dillon Botner said. “The offense has found its footing and we’re finally firing on all cylinders and we hope to keep it rolling.”
UM has put together back-to-back 50-plus scoring games in wins over a pair of teams from the powerhouse Missouri Valley Football Conference – South Dakota State and South Dakota. The Grizzlies dropped SDSU 50-29 and beat USD 52-22. Lighting up the scoreboard is nothing foreign to UM. The Griz have scored 40 points or more in nine of its 14 games and have scored at least 24 points in every game.
“We’ve played well all season long,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “I mentioned what I thought of the Dakota schools – we played three of the four of them – they’re all very physical, they’re tough. They know what they’re doing, they’re resourced. To be able to win both those games convincingly is really a good effort by our staff and our players.”
This second meeting between the archrivals has never happened in the modern era of the rivalry, and never in the post season, period. The first time the two schools played twice in one year was in 1899 when the Bobcats won both games, which were both played in Missoula. It happened again in alternating sites in 1908, 1909, 1910, 1912, and finally in 1913. The Grizzlies swept the last series.
“I didn’t know anybody on that team, but I bet my older brother Tim (UM’s defensive coordinator) does,” Hauck quipped on Monday.
The Bobcats will have to deal with a trifecta of talent in UM quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat, running back Eli Gillman and, especially, receiver Michael Wortham.
Wortham ran circles around USD this past Saturday as he accumulated 244 yards from scrimmage, including 201 receiving yards on 11 catches for two touchdowns and 43 yards rushing on just three carries and a score.
“A player like that, I don’t know that you contain him really,” MSU safety Caden Dowler said of Wortham. “You just try to limit those big plays that he has and I think we’re really well coached in eliminating big plays and we cap verticals really well. There’s some give and take with that but just our game plan helps us out a lot with that.”
Paying too much attention to Wortham, however, could open things up for UM’s other talented playmakers.
“They have a really good quarterback, and I know they have a really good running back and I know that they have a really good receiver – a couple really good receivers,” Dowler, who was named the BSC’s Defensive Player of the Year, said. “They’re going to attack us in every which way, and I think knowing formations and maybe tendencies within the game might help a little bit but we’re just going to have to read our keys and go out there and play ball.”
Like every coach in the country at this point, MSU head coach Brent Vigen is in tune with the scary vibes that Wortham brings. Wortham broke Marc Mariani’s Griz single-season record for all-purpose yards last week with his 269-yard outburst against South Dakota. Against MSU, Wortham managed just one catch for three yards and rushed three times for 35 yards. He has 19 catches for 314 yards along with nine rushes for 65 yards and he’s scored four touchdowns in the two games since.
“He certainly isn’t the only guy you can focus on,” Vigen said. “So how do you just play sound defense. One thing that we’ve done really well over most of the season is we’ve limited big plays. It’s certainly not limiting a guy with his touches. I know No. 4 for SFA had 11 catches and even more targets but we really limited the big play from him.
“Looking back at the game in Missoula, Wortham had some touches. He had the big play early on the fake reverse. He had one impactful kick return but otherwise we kept him in check. We gotta play our defense. We certainly gotta be aware of what he can do from alignments. As big as anything, we better play with leverage towards that kid because he can make you miss and if you don’t have proper technique, you’re gonna be in trouble and that’s what I seen these past couple weeks is he’s got some opportunities. He’s circled guys, he’s run around them and that’s the kind of play we can’t have happen.”
Despite taking the 31-28 win and knowing that the Grizzlies have lots of film on MSU to dissect, the Bobcats know that their preparation can’t change drastically.
“A little bit different just because we have some familiarity with them,” Dowler said. “Knowing their personnel a little bit better after we played them and how they might attack us might also change our preparation, but practices aren’t going to change and I’m going to watch more film than I ever have this week just because we don’t have that extra burden of classes.”
One of MSU’s mantras has been more about getting itself ready than getting ready for a certain opponent.
“It starts today (Monday),” Dowler said. “It starts with everyone buying in this week. We have some familiarity with this team but that doesn’t mean that we can’t prepare. We gotta prepare the same as we have every week and get as much film study in as we can, as many walkthroughs and as many practices. Then on Saturday we just go out there and fly around. Just play hard and play fast. That’s really the key just being able to play and decisive out there, especially for the defense.”
Both teams have experience playing the same team twice in one year and the opponent for both has been Weber State. MSU played the Wildcats both times at Bobcat Stadium in 2022 and UM played in them in alternating locations in 2008. The Bobcats won both games by five points (43-38 in the regular season and 33-28 in the second-round of the playoffs), while the Grizzlies lost on the road 45-28 before avenging the loss with a 24-13 win at home in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
The Griz also played Eastern Washington twice in 2021, losing during the regular-season in Cheney then running the Eagles out of Washington-Grizzly Stadium with a 57-41 boat race in the playoffs.
The Bobcats and Grizzlies kickoff this Saturday at 2:00 in Bobcat Stadium in a nationally televised game on ABC.
PHOTOS BY BROOKS NUANEZ, JASON BACAJ, BLAKE HEMPSTEAD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
