kennethnoisewater wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:48 am
Catsrgrood wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:56 pm
84CatGrad wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:01 pm
BozoneCat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:46 pm
ilovethecats wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:02 pm
DBARNETT1953 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm
Reformed Griz fan here, as I lived in Missoula until I was 17, and then enrolled at MSU and discovered Montana's finest University. There is only 1 measure of success for a Head Football coach at either school; that is Cat-Griz victories. If Vigen goes 4:0 or 3:1 then he gets a new contract after 4 years. If he goes 0:4 or 1:3 then he probably does not. If he goes 2:2 then they will look at other things such as Big Sky or Playoff success. Those are nice, but really only icing on the cake. Beating the Griz is the cake!
Totally disagree.
x100 million. National championship is the cake, Big Sky championship is the icing. Beating the griz is a nice glass of wine to go with the cake.
Beating the Griz is ALL that matters to me. To each his own.
Really?
I LOVE beating the Griz. But there is more.
If you told me that in the next 10 years we’d win 2-3 national championships and a handful of big sky titles, but we’d go 2-8 against the griz in that time, I’d take those national championships every time.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this. 20 years ago, honestly, beating the Griz was the most important thing to me. They were such pricks about it, like it went from bragging rights to bullying rights. Maybe I'm too far away from the sting of that streak for it to matter as much now, I don't know. I definitely want bigger things for the program.
However, I do think it's more than one game and it's more than bragging rights. I don't think you lose to them 8 times in 10 years and are even competitive. If they win that many times, they're getting the best recruits. Sure, MSU could bring in out of staters, but then there's a little less interest in Montana for MSU football and it just doesn't feel as good. In Missoula they'd be saying they beat us with Montana kids and they're the best team of Montanans, and that would eventually matter to me, even if MSU was having more success overall than them.
I think a coach has to beat the griz not just because you need to win that game, but you truly do have to win that rivalry 365 days a year, like it or not.
A lot has changed in 20 years. Back in 2001, I was just graduating college, and I barely had any memories in my entire life of beating the griz, as I was just 7 years old the last time it had happened in 1985. They were coming off their 2nd national championship and we were a middling program that hadn't tasted any sort of success for 16 years - not only had we not beat them, we generally got killed, and to make it worse we hadn't even made the playoffs during that entire run as well. That streak created a hatred for the griz that I will never, never get over - it's probably an unhealthy amount of hatred, but it's as much a part of me as the blood coursing through my veins. The bullying, the narcissism, the entitlement, the hubris we as Bobcat fans had to put up with during that time is something I will never forget. Back in 2001, beating them was everything, because we literally had nothing else.
Fast forward to 2021. We've beaten them more times than we've lost to them since then. More importantly, we've tasted more - and better - forms of success, which (I think) has only whetted our appetite for greater things. Beating them is important, and it sure as hell means more than any other regular season game for a multitude of reasons. It's important because the team that wins that game has a big leg up on in-state recruiting, and as has been proven over many decades, building our team with Montanans first is a recipe for success on the national level, as the state of Montana produces an inordinate number of excellent football players for its size, as well as the pride factor, which is intangible but certainly a very real thing. Second, that game is always the last game of the season, so winning that game means you go into the playoffs with momentum, more likely to get a much-needed bye and better seeding, which positions you for longer playoff runs. Third, that's another 365 days we don't have to listen to those blowhard assholes, and that's worth the price of gold. But, I would take a national championship ten million times before I'd take a win over the griz, and I wouldn't hesitate for 1 second. I have a hard time seeing how we accomplish one (the NC) without the other (beating the griz). You can lose an early season game and come back, but it would be hard to lose that last game of the season and think that you are peaking as you enter the playoffs.