They call it the “Brawl of the Wild”, the Montana State Bobcats vs the University of Montana Grizzlies. This year was the 112th meeting of these two teams. The Bobcats going into the game had a record of 9 and 1 overall and 7 and 1 in the Big Sky Conference. The Grizzlies on the other hand had a losing season, with a Big Sky record of 5 and 6. You would think  going to Missoula for the big game the Bobcats with a winning season would run all over the Grizzly with their high powered offense and crushing defense. The Bobcats had to win this game to take a share of the Big Sky Conference title and to insure them a good seed in the FCS playoffs. Well the Grizzlies made it hard for the Bobcats; or did the Bobcats make it hard for themselves?

Let’s break it down; to start the Bobcats offensive line had 6 penalties called on them for false starts. McGhee was 26 of 47 for 247 yards. McGhee threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Kruiz Siewing and with the help of Rory Perez’ three field goals the Bobcat offense was lucky to get away with the win. The grizzly defense held Cody Kirk to only 55 rushing yards on 22 carries.It was the Bobcats defense that saved the day. Montana States defensive end Caleb Schreibeis had 16 tackles and 1 sack. Linebacker Jody Owens had 12 stops and 2 tackles for Grizzly losses. The Bobcats escaped the “Brawl of the Wild” with a 16 to 7 win.

Next stop for the Bobcats after securing a second round bye in the FCS playoffs. The Montana State University Bobcats will play the Stony Brook Seawolves on Dec 1st at 5 p.m. in Bobcat Stadium.
Stony Brook, with a 10 and 2 record overall this season will be a tough opponent for the Bobcats. Stone Brook has a really good running back in Miguel Maysonset. Who had a great game against Villanova and he is the leading rusher in the nation with 156.5 rushing yards per game. The Bobcats will have to watch out for him.

The Bobcats had a week to rest up before their match with Stony Brook I think the Bobcats will win this first playoff game and move on to face the winner of Sam Houston/Cal Poly in the semi final game. Any way the Bobcats look at it they can only hope Eastern Washington will lose at some point in the playoffs. That would insure us home field advantage through the entire playoffs to the national championship game. The Bobcats will have a tough road to haul thru the playoffs, but coach Rob Ash always says “one game at a time”.

Hope to see you at all the games or login to Jack’s kidcat chat on Facebook and Bozeman magazine’s Facebook page for play by play updates videos and pictures. Let’s keep the Bobcat spirit alive to the national championships!!!! Go Bobcats.

Jack Carroll Thorsen is an eleven year old Bozeman resident who loves Bobcat Football. He blogs during each home Bobcat game on his facebook page, his after game blog can be found at jacksfootballblog.com

Thanks for reading Jack’s Kid CatChat for the Montana State Bobcat football season. MSU Football is one of our favorite things to cover in Bozeman. Go Cats!