It’s been a slow, steady climb up the polls for the Montana State University football team.

The Bobcats opened the 2011 campaign ranked No. 6 in The Sports Network/Fathead.com Football Championship Subdivision preseason poll back on Aug. 15.

In Monday’s TSN FCS ranking, the Bobcats are now sitting on top.

MSU (9-1) pulled in 76 first-place votes and 3,805 points to claim the No. 1 position. The Bobcats were sitting in the No. 2 slot in last week’s poll.

Sam Houston State (10-0) is second with 71 first-place votes and 3,764 points. The Bearkats were ranked No. 3 the previous week.

Also receiving first-place votes were Georgia Southern (9-1) with eight and North Dakota State (9-1) with one.

Georgia Southern moves up from fourth to third this week, while North Dakota State (9-1) drops from No. 1 to No. 5. The Bison lost to unranked Youngstown State last Saturday, 27-24.

Montana State was idle last weekend.

Montana State also holds down the top ranking in the Coaches Football Championship Subdivision poll. The Bobcats garnered 18 of the 28 first-place votes and 683 points.

Georgia Southern received two first-place votes and is second with 660 points.

Sam Houston State is third with eight first-place votes and 656 poll points.

Montana (8-2) is ranked seventh in both polls. The Grizzlies were ranked No. 12 in the preseason TSN FCS poll in August.

Montana was also idle last weekend.

Montana travels to Bozeman to face MSU on Saturday in the 111th Brawl of the Wild. The regular-season finale has a 12:05 p.m. kickoff time.

Montana State, sporting a nine-game winning streak, is 7-0 in the Big Sky. Montana is 6-1.

The Bobcats need a victory for their first outright Big Sky championship since 1984.

If the Grizzlies win, the two rivals will share the league title, however Montana will receive the conference’s automatic bid to postseason play. The loser will receive an at-large bid.