George Ferguson Column: October arrives with Cats and Griz in a good place

Big Sky Conference play couldn’t have started any better for the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats. In fact, things are pretty great right now in the state of Montana when it comes to the two programs.

The Grizzlies provided Bobby Hauck with his first statement win in his return to Montana when they demolished the then fourth-ranked UC Davis Aggies last Saturday in California.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats stormed back from a 21-point deficit in the first half to blast Northern Arizona in their Big Sky opener last Saturday in Bozeman.

Following the two wins, both rose in the polls again. Montana made a huge leap from No. 17 to No. 8 in this week’s Stats FCS Poll, while the Cats moved up to No. 6 in the new poll.

That’s right. Entering October, the Bobcats and Grizzlies are both ranked in the Top 10 of the FCS together, for the first time since 2014.

Needless to say, it’s been quite the journey for both teams to get to this point, too.

Four years ago, the Cats decided to completely rebuild the program. They fired Rob Ash, the winningest coach in program history and brought in Jeff Choate, who had never been a head coach before.

And while the climb has been a step-by-step process, Choate has pretty much delivered on everything he said he would. He’s built Montana State into a program that is focused on being a hard-hitting, physical defense, a punishing ground game and a positive, us-versus-them culture.

Yes, in the fourth season of Choate’s tenure in Bozeman, it’s hard to find many flaws with the Bobcats. Are they perfect? No. Are they ready to ascend to a national championship contender? With a young quarterback depth chart, probably not. But none of that means the Bobcats aren’t headed toward those goals.

Sitting at No. 6 in the country, and with a 4-1 overall record, as well as with an upcoming schedule that doesn’t include Big Sky Conference heavyweights Eastern Washington or Weber State, the Bobcats are certainly in the driver’s seat for nothing less than a share of the Big Sky championship. I say share because with the unbalanced Big Sky schedule, it’s become increasingly harder each year for any team to win the title outright.

In other words, Montana State’s goal of winning a Big Sky championship now, and not later, is certainly well within reach as October begins.

Of course, many pundits gave the Bobcats at least a chance to win a Big Sky title this season, before the year even kicked off. The same, however, cannot be said for the Grizzlies.

At the start of the season, most people figured, with a potent and veteran offense, and the likes of Dante Olson leading the defense, the Griz were going to be much better than the 6-5 team that finished out of playoff contention in Hauck’s first season back at the helm.

In fact, I was one of those people. All summer I kept thinking, the Griz are going to be a really good football team this season, but with one of the toughest schedule’s in the FCS, I don’t know how much they’ll have to show for it come late November.

But as October gets underway, the Griz are sitting at 4-1 and have a win over a team most predicted they would lose to. Montana possesses one of the top offenses in the FCS, and quarterback Dalton Sneed is quickly playing his way into Walter Payton Award consideration.

Meanwhile, the question marks coming into the fall are being answered too. Montana’s running game appears to be in great shape because of an improved offensive line and the emergence of transfer tailback Marcus Knight. And the Griz’ defense, despite a host of freshman and red-shirt freshman playing a ton of snaps, is looking like the Griz’ defense fans were used to seeing during Hauck’s first tenure.

Five games into the fall, it appears that the Griz are on track for their mantra that was adopted since the day Hauck arrived back in Missoula: #RTD (Return to Dominance).

Montana still has the toughest Big Sky schedule mind you, with a surging Idaho State, a road trip to much-improved Sacramento State, and visits from Eastern and Weber to come. But still, the Griz have put themselves in a position to at least be in the race for something that has eluded the program for a decade now — a Big Sky championship.

And with that said, the annual showdown between Montana and Montana State, set for Nov. 23 in Bozeman, could see the stakes being raised to heights we in Montana haven’t seen in a long, long time. Yes, if both the Cats, and Griz keep playing this way, the Brawl of the Wild could have astronomically huge implications.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself or anything because, like I said before, both teams aren’t perfect. There are going to be tough games ahead, there are going to be key injuries and moments of adversity. After all, it’s the Big Sky Conference, and we’re talking about Montana and Montana State. If we’ve learned anything over the years, including just last November in Missoula, when it comes to the Cats and Griz, anything can happen, and it usually does.

So whatever side of the divide you’re on, you know, there’s a long way to go.

Still, with what’s transpired so far, it’s hard not to let yourself imagine that, with the way things are going, the Cats and Griz might just be on a collision course for a showdown of epic proportions.

Of course, time will tell. The Brawl of the Wild is now 52 days away.

Montana is home this Saturday to host Idaho State at 1 p.m. in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. That game will be televised on Root Sports. The Bobcats play at Cal Poly Saturday at 5 p.m. That game will be televised on SWX Montana affiliates.