‘Cats resilient without defensive star Caden Dowler; Coach Vigen views Taco’s 87-yard grab among all-time Bobcat plays
By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS
BOZEMAN—Following Saturday evening’s FCS semifinal action, the Montana Grizzlies finished their season with a 13-2 record, both losses to the ‘Cats and both losses in large part because of the Dowler twins.
This 2025 chapter of the Dowler brothers’ story has been fascinating: for the first three seasons of their Montana State careers, Caden Dowler was known as Taco Dowler’s brother.
Taco has the unique name. Taco catches the touchdowns. Taco returns the punts. Taco has TV color commentator Ty Gregorak shouting, “It’s Taco Tuesday on a Saturday!” any time the man from Billings named Taco scores.
But this season, despite Taco’s undeniable name recognition and undeniable continued production, Caden Dowler stole the stage. Taco became Caden’s brother instead of vice versa, as Caden became the hero of the fall for the Montana State Bobcats.
Caden Dowler began his turnover barrage in early November, helping Montana State put the rest of the Big Sky Conference on notice when he forced three takeaways in MSU’s 66-14 win over Weber State.
The takeaway propensity continued for the rest of the season as Caden surged his way to earning Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors.
His pick-6 against UC Davis helped Montana State emerge from a Top-8 showdown with a 38-17 win. Dowler’s pick-6 against Montana was a huge difference maker in MSU’s 31-28 win over the Griz in Missoula in November.
That Garden City victory sewed up a third Big Sky title in four seasons under fifth-year head coach Brent Vigen. It also ensured MSU would have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs as the No. 2 seed. And it crucially assured that if the Grizzlies advanced as far as the Bobcats in this year’s postseason, the 125th rivalry showdown would occur at Bobcat Stadium.
So when all of those factors played out, and Caden Dowler snapped his wrist less than 10 minutes into the “Super Brawl”, no one could’ve blamed the Bobcats for panicking.
Montana State’s best player and team captain was wounded.
That’s when Taco Dowler reassumed his lead amongst the Dowler brothers in a friendly competition—one that’s actually irrelevant because it’s dead even. And Montana State sure is lucky to have the twins from Billings.
In a back-and-forth game in which Montana State dominated the first 20 minutes despite Caden’s injury to take a 20-3 lead, only to see Montana grab the momentum back for the next 20 minutes and leap-frog to a 23-20 lead of their own, Taco provided the back-breaker.
In the third quarter, MSU answered UM’s go-ahead with a 14-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in Bozeman-native Rocky Lencioni’s short TD to put MSU up 27-23.
But when Montana State faced third-down-and-20, three minutes into the fourth quarter, Justin Lamson rolled out and heaved a pass through contact that will resonate forever in Bobcat and FCS lore.
Taco Dowler snared the pass and used his afterburners to finish an 87-yard touchdown, bringing the scoreboard one giant step closer to an insurmountable deficit for the Griz.
“To be able to finish it off in the fashion that we did, clearly, the play from Justin to Taco, I don’t know if that’s not the best play in the history of our program, I don’t know… it certainly was the best play today,” coach Vigen said after the game.
Taco, the former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year out of Billings West High School, contributed to winning throughout the contest. He hauled in five catches for 125 yards and seemed unfazed by a hit to the head which resulted in a targeting penalty against the Griz.
“I think just celebrating and getting to spend another week with this team means more than anything,” Taco said after the game, noting it feels similar to last year. “Caden wasn’t playing in this game. I gave him a big hug and shed a tear with him. Then we won. Super special.”
Dowler brothers aside, Montana State has affirmed full authority in a rivalry that Montana once owned. The Bobcats took a back-and-forth heavyweight fight and turned it into a late-round knockout, affirming the Treasure State in the process.
The ‘Cats have now won eight of the last 10 against the Griz, including three in a row. UM has not won in Bozeman in 10 years and six trips to Bobcat Stadium. UM head coach Bobby Hauck is 2-6 against MSU since returning to his alma mater, including 0-4 in Bozeman. His overall record is 7-8 after leaving Montana after his first stint (2003-2009) with a 5-2 mark that included four wins in a row, and two straight in Bozeman.
Vigen is 60-12 in his Bobcat career, including 40-2 at home. He’s never lost a game in regulation at Bobcat Stadium. And his team will play for the national championship for the third time in five years after not playing for or winning a national title since 1984.
The Dowlers have played a large part this season. But Vigen’s unshakeable nature, driven and stoic approach along with his unbreakable formula for winning have been the defining factor in the greatest era in Bobcat football’s storied history.
And now Montana State gets to go to Nashville, Tennessee—instead of Frisco, Texas—to play in a national championship game without North Dakota State, Vigen’s alma mater, looming on the other side.
Instead, Montana State will gun for its first national title since 1984 against Illinois State, a 30-14 winner over No. 12 Villanova and the first team in FCS Playoffs history to win four straight road games. The Redbirds advance to the FCS title game for the first time since 2014.
“This was about ‘how can we complete this journey and go as far as possible?’” Vigen said. “What did it take this crew… 51 weeks? And obviously, we have one more game. We have to figure out how to get on top.”
Colter Nuanez has covered the Big Sky Conference for 19 seasons and has directly covered Montana State since 2011. His work can be found at skylinesportsmt.com and he can be reached at Colter.Nuanez@gmail.com.
