It is well chronicled how intense and deeply personal the “Brawl of the Wild” rivalry between Montana and Montana State is. The top rivalry in the FCS is also arguably one of the greatest rivalries in all of college football as whole. A series that dates all the way back to the late 1800s has seen almost everything there is to see. From epic comebacks to long streaks to blowouts and agonizingly close contests, MSU and UM have engaged in a 125-year ongoing hate match and have done nearly everything there is to do with
each other.
In fact, there is just one major box that has never been checked in this rivalry and that is going to change on Saturday. Montana and Montana State have never met in a postseason setting and now they’re set to clash with pretty much the whole kit and kaboodle on the line. The Brawl gets an epic facelift this weekend in the semifinals and someone is going to Nashville when the dust settles.
Back on November 22, MSU rolled into Missoula and came out with a hard-fought 31-28 victory, a victory that cemented the third Big Sky championship for head coach Brent Vigen in five years. That result is also the reason this weekend’s rematch will take place in Bozeman as the Bobcats were elevated to the 2-seed following that win. For Montana, it was their only loss of the year and, clearly, the Grizzlies have used it as motivation throughout the duration of these playoffs as they’ve beaten their two postseason dance partners… South Dakota State and South Dakota… by a combined score of 102-51.
Montana State, meanwhile, had to grind one out against a Yale team that fought tooth and nail in the second round then had to outlast a pretty solid Stephen F. Austin group in the quarterfinals last Friday night. It all sets up, now, what might be the game of the year in the FCS and in college football in general. No teams come into this weekend with a head of steam quite like the Bobcats and the Grizzlies. MSU has won 12 straight dating back to mid September while Montana brings with it a 13-1 overall record. Something will have to give.
The Griz offense is as white hot as it can get right now. Led by sophomore quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat and star running back Eli Gillman, UM has been unstoppable on that side of the ball over the last two weeks. Ah Yat has been razor sharp, throwing for 665 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions in the playoffs. Gillman has scored three times over the last pair of games as well. That is all not mentioning the play of receiver Michael Wortham who is also producing at an insanely high clip right now. Last week alone Wortham caught 11 passes for over 200 yards and two scores.
That should all come with the footnote, however, that none of those defenses have been Montana State’s. The ‘Cats might have the best unit in the country on that side of the ball and they’ve smothered opponents all season long. Last week against SFA, senior defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV had three sacks on his own and caused two fumbles. Safety Caden Dowler is the best at his position in the entire country and coming into this game he’s playing as good as humanly possible with six interceptions over his last five games including the win against Montana last month. Yards and points do not come easy against the MSU defense and, as smooth as Montana’s sailing has been in that department in recent weeks, it will likely not be as much on Saturday.
There is somewhat of a blanket feeling that these are the two best teams left standing, especially with the sheer amount of chaos that has gone down on the other side of the playoffs and, while there will of course be one more game to be played for the winner in Tennessee before any crowning can be done, this semifinal bout in many ways has the aura of a national championship game itself. The winner of it will almost surely be favored against either Villanova or Illinois State in two weeks. And the loser… whether it’s fair or not… will carry this scar on their program for a long, long time in the Treasure State. It’s about as big as big can get for both of these schools, their teams and the respective fanbases.
The ABC cameras will be there to capture it all on Saturday afternoon. The game is set to kick off at 4:00 (PM) ET and will be the first of the two national semifinals.
