Griz, 'Cats meet for 110th rival game
Montana State fans who have been around awhile remember that snowy Saturday eight years ago fondly.
That was the day the Bobcats came to Washington-Grizzly Stadium and snapped The Streak.
When the Bobcats and Grizzlies face-off today in the 110th annual Brawl of the Wild football game at high noon in Missoula, there's no streak to snap and much has changed, but there's still a few similarities to eight years ago.
Or at least MSU fans would like to hope so.
For 16 long years, the Bobcats had lost to the Grizzlies and had yet to win inside the growing, roaring coliseum at the base of Mount Sentinel in Missoula. The Grizzly dynasty was at a new height in 2002. With record crowds of nearly 20,000 fans at every home game, the Griz were riding a streak of four-straight Big Sky conference championships and an unbeaten record in conference games dating back to 1999. This dominance culminated into two-straight national championship appearances and a national title in 2001.
Meanwhile, across the divide in Bozeman, the Bobcats existed in the shadow of its advantaged sibling, victim of an uneven rivalry and playing before crowds and scores that paled in comparison to Montana's.
Then Nov. 23, 2002, happened.
The Bobcats defeated the Griz 10-7 thanks to a strong game by true freshman quarterback Travis Lulay, senior running back Ryan Johnson's 132 yards and a defensive performance that rattled UM senior QB John Edwards throughout the day and held Montana scoreless until the fourth quarter.
The first victory against the Griz since 1985 not only rebuilt the Bobcats' confidence and led to a chain of three rivalry wins in the next four seasons, but that 2002 victory earned the 'Cats a share of the Big Sky Conference crown with Montana and Idaho State. It was the first conference-title touch MSU had had since 1984, the same year the Bobcats won the national championship.
With a similar cold-snap forecast for today's game, Montana State would like a repeat result from eight years ago, which would be their first victory in the Garden City since that memorable day.
Led by standout freshman quarterback Denarius McGhee, the Bobcats (8-2 overall, 6-1 in conference) are fresh off a bye week and have a chance at sharing or out-right winning the conference title in today's regular-season finale. Both MSU and Eastern Washington, which hosts Idaho State (1-9, 0-7), have only one conference loss.
Meanwhile, the Griz (7-3, 5-2) appear to be at the end of the program's streak of 12-straight conference titles and at this point are simply fighting for a mere postseason ticket into the newly expanded FCS playoffs. Winners of six of the last seven games, Montana will rely on senior running back Chase Reynolds, who rushed for a season-high 173 yards and set the school record with his 51st career TD run in last week's 27-17 win over North Dakota.
This will be Robin Pflugrad's first go as head coach of UM. Montana has won four-straight against the 'Cats dating back to 2006.
McGhee leads the Big Sky with 275 yards-per-game passing and recently landed on the watch-list for the FCS Quarterback of the Year award along with UM senior QB Justin Roper. A Texas native, McGhee is on pace to have the third-best passing season ever by a Bobcat quarterback, behind Lulay's junior season in '04 (317 ppg) and Kelly Bradley's '84 sophomore season (319 ppg).
On defense, Kalispell native Dan Ogden has established himself as one of the top linemen in the nation. A senior who graduated from Flathead and has started in 25 straight-games, Ogden switched from tackle to end to fill in for an injured teammate two games ago and has since record 22 tackles and 4.5 sacks.
Other local athletes playing in today's game for Montana State are: Libby's Joel Fuller is a sophomore defensive back; redshirt freshman tight end Donald Tudahl out of Bigfork; redshirt freshman defensive back Bryce Stacy and redshirt freshman wide receiver Taylor Graham both from Kalispell.
The Griz currently have no athletes from the Flathead Valley on their active roster.