The Montana State Bobcats have won 13 straight football games, which is rare, but they struggled in a couple this season, which isn’t rare for any program.

Montana State coach Brent Vigen drew a parallel between his team’s second-round game against Yale, a 21-13 win on Dec. 6, and North Dakota State’s stunning 29-28 loss to Illinois State on the same day. 

“For us, i know we didn’t quite play as well against Yale as we could have,” Vigen, whose club battles Illinois State Monday for the Division I Football Championship, said. “Maybe that’s what we needed. We survived that and that’s really what tournament, playoff play can be about. 

“I’m sure NDSU learned a lot about themselves that day but didn’t survive it. We did and I think we were better for it. Honestly, the way our guys responded to the coaching was a key piece to it.” 

Going back farther, Vigen noted that the Cats’ tough early-season schedule — a 59-13 loss at Oregon, then a 30-24 double-overtime setback to South Dakota State — helped set the stage. 

“Looking back the fact that we were challenged the way we were the first two games, I think it was what this team needed,” he said. “Through the nonconference it wasn’t perfect by any means, but I think we found our footing as we hit conference play.” 

Roadbirds’ Turnaround 

That leads us to the Redbirds, winners of nine straight road games — another rarity. 

The turning point, or one of them, was that 37-7 home loss to Southern Illinois in the regular-season finale.  

That left Illinois State on the bubble at 8-4; the Redbirds were one of the last four teams into the 24-team playoff field. 

“We knew that game wasn’t who we are,” quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse said this week. “Once we saw our name up there against Southeastern Louisiana, we knew we had a shot. “It doesn’t matter what happened against SIU; still doesn’t matter now.” 

The rest is all there, in black and white: Playoff wins in Lousiana, in Fargo, in Davis, Calif., and in Philadelphia over Villanova. 

Kickoff for the national championship is at 5:30 p.m. Mountain at Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium and will air on ESPN. 

The NDSU game will be remembered around Normal, Illinois a long time. 

“Defense played probably the best game I’ve ever seen,” said Rittenhouse, who threw five interceptions that game but then fired two TD passes to Daniel Sobkowicz in the final 2:44. “Just to put that together at the end shows us how resilient this group is. Realizing that, we knew every game is winnable and gives us all the confidence in the world.” 

Connections 

A few words on Matt Nicholson, the strength coach for Illinois State football who not only spent five years in the same position with the Montana Grizzlies (2015-19), but overlapped with Bobby Hauck for two. 

“Huge. He’s been big,” Redbirds’ coach Brock Spack said. “Before that we had a guy, Jim Lathrop, and we were together a long time at Wyoming and Purdue. Jim retired, and Matt played college football for a teammate of mine in college, Kevin Sumlin (at Houston from 2006-10).  

“His position coach was my coordinator and HC for two years in college. I had good intel on him, and both those guys knew my personality and they both said, “You will really like this guy.’ ” 

Lathrop retired in December 2020; Nicholson’s linebackers coach at Houston was Leon Burtnett, who was Purdue’s head coach from 1982-86 and on Robin Pflugrad’s staff at Montana for one season, 2010. Burtnett, who passed away on June 1, 2021, was also secondary coach at Montana State back in 1970. 

QUICK KICKS: Monday will mark the first meeting between the Bobcats and Redbirds. ... Sobkowicz has caught seven touchdown passes in four postseason games and has 18 for the season and 40 for his career. ... 12 Redbirds were all-MVFC selections for 2025, with receiver Luke Mailander (43 catches, 659 yards, 4 TDs) named Freshman of the Year. ... 16 Bobcats landed all-Big Sky honors, including Newcomer of the Year Justin Lamson and Defensive Player of the Year Caden Dowler.