Date: Saturday December 20, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM (ET)
TV: ABC
The Quick Hits
After over a century and a quarter of playing football together, Montana and Montana State will at long last meet in the FCS playoffs and the stakes couldn’t get much higher as the two rivals will clash in the semifinals. These two have seen each other practically every year dating all the way back to 1897 but never before have they had a get-together like the one they’re about to have in Bozeman on Saturday. The 2-seed Bobcats earned the right to host this game because they beat the Grizzlies less
than a month ago in Missoula. MSU, looking to return to the grand stage for the second consecutive year and third time in the last five, brings with in a 12-game win streak into this one but will have to go through its neighbor to get to Nashville.
The 13-1 Grizzlies, meanwhile, have revenge on their minds have to believe it’s attainable after giving the ‘Cats a heck of a fight back in Missoula in November. With an offense that’s humming and that loss being the only blotch on an otherwise perfect season up to this point, UM comes into what will surely be the most hostile environment it has or will see in sometime. In a place that they have no won since 2015, Montana will look to right its only previous wrong from this season and punch its ticket to the big game for the second time in three seasons. Something will have to give in what should be a colossal showdown between two of the FCS’s premier teams.
The Coaches
Both Montana head coach Bobby Hauck and Montana State’s Brent Vigen know the name of the game well at this point in the season. Vigen has coached the Bobcats to two of these semifinal wins in his five years as the team’s head coach but has yet to win the big one. With an overall record of 59-12 since taking over, Vigen is quickly rising the list of the winningest coaches in school history. He’s captured three conference titles and took home this year’s Big Sky Coach of the Year accolades. What’s even more impressive is that he’s only lost three league games since taking over in 2021. Two of those losses, though, were to these Grizzlies and to Hauck on the other side.
Hauck has been around for a long, long time at UM with a brief stint at UNLV in between. He’s led the Grizzlies for 15 total seasons now and has gotten them to the national championship three times in his tenure. Like Vigen, though, Hauck has not won it yet. He is, however, the all time winningest coach in Big Sky history and has eight conference titles to his name. Hauck and Vigen are two of the best in the business and both could easily be head coaches at the next level. Saturday will be their sixth meeting.
Montana State Offense vs. Montana Defense
Following the departure of last year’s Walter Payton Award winning quarterback Tommy Mellott, a lot of questions swirled around MSU’s offense heading into 2025. The acquisition of Justin Lamson in the portal answered those questions in a big way. Lamson has been tremendous for the Bobcats this year as a junior, throwing for 2,683 yards and 22 touchdowns. He’s also run for 661 yards and 12 more scores. What’s been perhaps most impressive about the ex-Stanford QB, though, is his care of the ball specifically when passing. Lamson has only thrown three interceptions all season and that’s been huge for the Montana State offense.
That being said, Montana has some guys in its secondary that know how to take the ball away and will do it if Lamson isn’t careful. Safety T.J. Rausch and corner Kenzel Lawler are dangerous on the back end of the Grizzlies defense with a combined 14 defended passes and four interceptions between them this year. Both have a nose for the ball. The secondary, however, is not the only position group that has playmakers as far as pass defense goes. Linebacker Peyton Wing leads the team with four picks of his own. Lamson will have several guys he’ll need to be on red alert for.
One key difference between this matchup and the one in November is the fact that the Griz will have cornerback Kyon Loud. Loud missed last meeting but has been a clear spark since returning, totaling four tackles and a PBU in the playoffs. He, too, looks to be a difference maker.
What Montana State really wants to do, though, is run the ball early and often. That plan will center around not only Lamson but also the two-headed monster of Julius Davis and Adam Jones in the backfield. The pair of backs is as good as it gets at the FCS level and both are on the tail ends of sensational seasons for MSU. Davis just went for over 1,000 yards on the year last week and has eight TDs while the sophomore Jones is right behind him with 916 yards and a team-leading 13 scores. In the last showdown the duo combined for 154 yards and a score. Montana will need to find a way to limit the damage from both of these guys.
When the ‘Cats do opt to throw, the top targets will be receiver Taco Dowler and youngster Dane Steel. Dowler was held relatively in check the last time he went up against the UM defense but Steel had a big day, averaging 13.5 yards per catch and finding the end zone once. It’s going to be tough for the Grizzlies, even with all their talent in the secondary, to effectively corral both of these guys all afternoon. If they can, though, Montana’s chances are certainly better.
Montana Offense vs. Montana State Defense
The Griz have ridden their “big three” on offense all season long and especially through this playoff run to get here. Quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat, running back Eli Gillman and receiver Michael Wortham have all been excellent this year but all have been on another level since the postseason started. Wortham in specific has to be the main focal point of Montana State’s defense because he is coming into this game as hot as any player of the four teams left standing right now. Last week in the win over South Dakota he hauled in 11 passes for over 200 yards and two touchdowns. He does it through the air and on the ground and he’s probably going to be the most athletic guy on the field come Saturday.
What should be encouraging to MSU’s defense, though, is the fact that it rendered Wortham a complete non-factor a month ago when it saw him last. Doing it again is no easy task but is also most likely a must if they want to win. That’s where guys like Caden Dowler and Tayden Gray come into play. Dowler has been otherworldly on the back end over the last month, picking off six passes in five games. He recorded a massive pick six against Ah Yat last time out that swayed the game. Gray, meanwhile, has two INTs himself along with 45 stops. He got shaken up last week but will be good to go in this one. Both will need to be at their very best not only because of Wortham but also because of how well Ah Yat is playing right now.
Ah Yat is about as sharp as sharp can get right now. Through the playoffs he’s thrown for 665 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. His decision making has been as quick and as on point as any QB out there and he’s picked apart two really good Missouri Valley defenses since last seeing this Bobcats unit. Ah Yat is also one of the top passers in the FCS this season on the whole, throwing for 3,819 yards and 32 scores. If he can keep up his level of play, the Grizzlies have to feel good about what they can do even against a very talented Montana State D.
Getting pressure on Ah Yat will be important and that job will fall largely on senior defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV. Eiden is also coming into this one with a head of steam. Last week against SFA he had three sacks on his own and he stripped the ball away on two. He and Zac Crews have been wrecking balls coming off the edge for the Bobcats this fall, combining for 13 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss. Linebackers Hunter Parsons and Cole Taylor will also play a role in that department. But getting to Ah Yat is just part of the battle. The other part will be slowing down Gillman who is one of the best backs in America.
The junior running back has rumbled for over 1,400 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. He is the lynchpin of the Montana rushing attack and is a home run threat every time he has the ball in his hands. Montana State’s tackling needs to be sound and concentrated when #10 is coming at them because if it isn’t, MSU learned in a hard way last time out that Gillman can pop one from any point on the field.
Prediction
No matter how this game is cut, it has every making of an absolute all timer. Montana is playing its best ball right now and if that carries into this weekend, it’s hard to see even the Bobcats besting them. MSU, however, is darn near unbeatable in its own building. Something will have to give and even the smallest mistake will likely be the difference between winning and losing. Ah Yat and Wortham will be able to have success and, while Gillman might find the yards hard to come by, he too will produce. None of those three should have a quiet day. Montana State’s own offense will likely need another stellar game from Lamson like the last time these two met. The stars will go blow for blow in this game, including the ones on the Bobcats defense. A big play from Dowler somewhere along the line paired with the raucous homefield advantage that MSU will have in this one will tilt the game ever so slightly in Montana State’s favor but it will be by the slimmest of margins.
Score Prediction: Montana: 32 – Montana State: 34
