Combined, rivals bring 20 consecutive wins to the Big Sky Conf. championship in Missoula
By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS
As the public address announcer at Bobcat Stadium bellowed, “The Montana State Player of the Game is Caden Dowler,” Caden’s twin brother, Taco, danced and waved on the crowd of 21,777 who stayed until nearly midnight on Nov. 15 to cheer on Montana State’s ninth straight victory.
And when Caden’s second interception nearly went for a touchdown like his first one already had, the stage was officially set.
For the third time in four years, THE rivalry between Montana State and archrival University of Montana will be for the outright Big Sky Conference champion.
And anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, there’s more than one Dowler who’s a bonafide superstar as the Bobcats look primed for yet another deep playoff run.
Over the last two weeks, Caden Dowler has launched his name to the top of the list of candidates for the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year. On Saturday night in Bozeman, Dowler flipped Montana State’s Top 10 showdown against UC Davis on its head with his 83-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Later on, he snared another pick and returned it 33 yards, nearly housing another one. It was all part of Montana State slugging its way to a 38-17 win over the No. 9 Aggies.
The week prior, Dowler had a forced fumble and an interception as MSU destroyed Weber State, 66-14.
A defensive Dowler paired with the explosiveness of the offensive Dowler (Taco) has Montana State flying high. The Bobcats have won their first seven conference games by an average score of 48-12 and MSU enters the 124th rivalry showdown with the Montana Grizzlies on a nine-game winning streak.
A win in Missoula this week would result in a windfall for Montana State. MSU is in the mix for its third Big Sky title as Brent Vigen reaches the regular-season finale of his fifth season as Montana State’s head coach. The winner will almost certainly get a Top 2 seed in the FCS playoffs and the home field advantage that comes with it. And Vigen is gunning for his first-ever win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. He brings a 56-12 record into his fifth rivalry game but he is 0-2 in Missoula and each defeat were among Vigen’s most painful.
The Bobcats and the Grizzlies have simultaneously ascended to the top tier of the FCS. Montana spent the 1990s and 2000s dominating the Big Sky and the Bobcats. The Griz made the playoffs 17 times in a row between 1993 and 2009. UM claimed 15 of its 19 Big Sky titles during that spurt.
But since Bobby Hauck left following the 2009 season, Montana State has five Big Sky championships and UM’s lone title came in 2023.
In the post-pandemic era, though, the road to the Big Sky title has gone through Montana. All five of the Cat-Griz games of Vigen’s career have been for at least a share of the league championship.
Although Montana State has another conference title in its sights, it’s the Griz that are undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country. UM is off to its fourth 11-0 start in Montana’s proud and prestigious program history, including the third under Hauck despite the fact that the Griz returned zero full-time starters defensively from a season ago. A win on Saturday against the Bobcats would give Montana its 20th Big Sky title, including its ninth under Hauck.
Bragging rights, a Big Sky title and playoff positioning will certainly dominate the narrative this week. But the battle of head coaches and what it means for each of Hauck and Vigen’s respective legacies is also important to note.
Hauck went 5-2 against the rival in his first stint coaching Montana from 2003 until 2009. But he’s 2-4 since returning, and he’s gotten blown out in his last three trips to Bozeman. Still, he’s undefeated against Vigen in Missoula in two matchups.
Those Griz beatdowns in Missoula (29-10 in 2021, 37-7 in 2023) are the lone smudge on Vigen’s otherwise spotless resume, other than Montana State’s almost-yearly playoff losses to North Dakota State. But the Bison beat pretty much everyone, pretty much all the time—while Vigen’s predecessors won in Missoula on occasion.
Among former Bobcat coaches, Mike Kramer was 3-4 against Montana, winning in Missoula in 2002 to snap MSU’s 16-game losing streak to the Griz. Rob Ash was just 2-7 against Montana but he won at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 2010 and 2012. Jeff Choate never lost to Montana, beating the Griz in Missoula in 2016 and 2018 in two of the biggest upsets in the rivalry’s history.
Now comes Vigen’s opportunity. On Saturday night after speaking for 12 minutes about his team’s win over UC Davis, Vigen fielded just one question about the rivalry. His stoic demeanor instantly turned stern, the ramifications of the task at hand instantly washing over him.
“We’ve done this now five years in a row,” Vigen said just after midnight on Sunday morning, Nov. 16. “To have everything on the line in the last game; what we need to make it about is playing a game. That’s going to be complicated. Positioning ourselves at this point, it’s where we want to be. Obviously, they haven’t lost yet this year so we’re going to dive deep into doing everything we can to defend them, to find ways to score and combat everything a rivalry is about. Really looking forward to it and just thankful we’re in this position.”
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.
