Beatdown of a Brawl in Bozeman

It wasn't even close.

Despite being a Top 10 FCS matchup for the third year in a row, in the 123rd Brawl of the Wild, the No. 9 Montana Grizzlies were simply no match for the No. 2 Montana State Bobcats.

In front of a new record crowd at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, the Bobcats piled up major rushing yards en route to a 34-11 win over the Grizzlies.

The victory was the fifth straight by the home team in the series, while also capping a perfect 12-0 regular season for the Bobcats, who were also crowned outright Big Sky champions to boot.

"That Big Sky Conference championship trophy is obviously cool to have, and it means a lot," said MSU senior safety Rylan Ortt. "But there's nothing better than carrying around that Great Divide Trophy around the stadium, in the locker room. Being able to put the helmet on top of it and touch that Cat side of it is just amazing. It's a surreal feeling.

"That's the one that we were after, and we got it today."

Ortt, a Missoula native, was part of a dominant defensive performance by the Bobcats. They held Montana to just 234 yards of offense, and just three first-half points.

Montana was also just 2-of-12 on third down as MSU went in front 7-0 on a Tommy Mellott TD run, while the Cats added 13 points in the second quarter to lead 20-3 at halftime.

"They were too much for us today," Griz head coach Bobby Hauck said. "They have a good football team, and they did a good job. I approve of our guys' effort. Thought our guys prepared really well this week and played hard. We didn't execute cleanly enough or make enough plays to come in here and knock them off."

While the Griz totaled just 117 yards through the air and on the ground, the Montana defense played hard, but just couldn't get enough stops, especially, they couldn't slow down another Missoula product, Adam Jones.

Jones scored twice in the second half, and ripped off an 88-yard run when the Griz defense had MSU pinned against its own goal line. That long run was the explosive plays MSU was used to getting, and while it took a little longer than usual, the Griz were powerless to stop it entirely, as the Bobcats totaled 326 yards rushing. Jones finished with 91 yards, while Mellott had 51 yards and threw for 94 in his final Cat-Griz game.

"As a kid, I think I went to every (Cat-Griz) game, and finally being able to play in that game is something I truly can't put into words," Jones said. "Seeing kids after the game so happy, I was that kid one time. I wanted to meet the players. Now that I'm the player that kids want to meet, it's crazy. I'm grateful for it."

Happiness was all around as the Cats not only beat their arch rival, but locked up the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs, and secured their first outright conference championship since 1984. That was also the last year the Cats won a national championship. And that's where the Cats want to go again this time around.

"A lot accomplished today and appreciate where we're at," Vigen said. "But I think we all understand that we have bigger things in mind moving forward."