How do Cats stack up against Griz

[WetBreeches]

On paper the Cats definitely hold an advantage at most positions and have far superior depth. Wortham is scary and Gilman can always produce...but it is Cat/Griz, home teams have dominated lately, and the Griz have gotten "lucky" 3 times this year...not to mention the Cat dline continues to be superior to every oline and yet somehow never get held.

[Joe Bobcat]

Oh you sound dumb af to imply I said gillmann is alright when ilitetally compared his style to a HOF rb. A rb I actually played against in college, so I can definitely attest to the style.

Give me your position by position analytical skills based off scheme and ability of each position. I'll wait

BBT you know your football and give Great analysis. I know I’m not alone in saying we really appreciate your input. One thing that you maybe don’t know, but are learning quickly is the average Griz fan that trolls on BN is dumb as F.

[Augustus]

Considering the gris have had the easiest schedule in the conference this year, it's hard not to be undefeated when all you are playing are community college teams. I think we spank them, even in hippytown. They're not that good, but it's a tough place to play with the noise. Jump out to a good lead though and the noise goes down significantly.

[onceacat]

Considering the gris have had the easiest schedule in the conference this year, it's hard not to be undefeated when all you are playing are community college teams. I think we spank them, even in hippytown. They're not that good, but it's a tough place to play with the noise. Jump out to a good lead though and the noise goes down significantly.

Obviously it doesn't always work this way in real life, but if UND can play the Pandas to basically a tie in Missoula, the Cats ought to be able to roll by 2+ scores.

UM is good, but their resume is clearly a tier lower than MSUs.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

Oh you sound dumb af to imply I said gillmann is alright when ilitetally compared his style to a HOF rb. A rb I actually played against in college, so I can definitely attest to the style.

Give me your position by position analytical skills based off scheme and ability of each position. I'll wait

BBT you know your football and give Great analysis. I know I’m not alone in saying we really appreciate your input. One thing that you maybe don’t know, but are learning quickly is the average Griz fan that trolls on BN is dumb as F.

Lolol I'm starting to see that... which is why I asked to give me a breakdown based off ability and scheme, what do they see in full totality that says they're better. When you move past emotions and opinions you find out who can break it down so you know who to actually interact with lolol

[nanacat]

Not that it matters really, but i wonder how the griz would have done vs Davis?

[TomCat88]

Not that it matters really, but i wonder how the griz would have done vs Davis?

Me, too. Would love to have a 9-team conference.

[catscat]

Not that it matters really, but i wonder how the griz would have done vs Davis?

Me, too. Would love to have a 9-team conference.

Barring a huge, huge load of gris luck, they'd lose.

Oh, I forgot to add a huge, huge dose of last night's zebras.

Pandas and zebras - a real zoo over there.

[MrGoodKat]

The two best rushing offenses that the Griz have faced are SAC and UND.

SAC is averaging 254 yds/game and 5.7 YPC. Vs UM, they had 141 yds and 3.3 YPC.

UND is averaging 210 yds/game and 5.1 YPC. @UM, they had 202 yds and 4.9 YPC.

So in one case, they held them way below their season averages and in the other they basically gave up what the team typically gains.

What's interesting is that in the SAC game, they allowed them to majorly overperform their season average in the passing game:

337 yds, 10.2 YPA Vs. UM where their average is 176 YPG and 9.1 YPA.

[ClowderUp]

The gris haven't ever seen an offense like the Cats.

[WalkOn79]

First off I never said that the key to victory is out of state players. I said that it could be an actual advantage because they won't get caught up in the emotion of the game. If it came off as me saying that having more OOS players is the key, please accept my apologies as that's not what I'm saying. I simply said having some players at key positions that won't get caught up in the emotion is an advantage. Again never saying they ARE THE KEY to victory.

Oh and I can understand the rivalry. I don't have to be there to understand the passion that goes into this game. The sense of state pride in winning this game. I totally get it and I totally get how important it is for MT players play well in this game and in large part are the key players IN this game. This rivalry again is no bigger than UT/A$M...auburnVSbama.....etc. I totally get it and I still feel that it CAN be an advantage because those few players are less likely to get caught up in the overall emotion of this game because they are removed from the deep rooted history. My perspective has nothing to do with mcmillan, boyd, ross ezekiel williams brock the steeles or any other player that isn't from montana, it comes from being a competitor that has played, coached, or spectated these types of games pretty much my whole life. You don't have to agree that's fine. But again I never said they are the key to victory, I said it could actually be an advantage. That's it

I do think that a close familiarity with the rivalry gives insight on what factors weigh most heavily; not all football rivalries work exactly the same way.

But I appreciate what you're saying. Thanks for clarifying.

BobcatBuiltTexan isn’t out in left field on this theory. Texan Clifton McDowell at QB for the Griz dominated the Cats in ‘23, while Tommy Mellott was 4-for-13 with an interception that game. This was after Bobcatnation laughed at McDowell all week leading up to the game for calling the game “the battle of the brawl or whatever.” McDowell, who led Montana to the national championship game that season, made a lot of NIL $$$ off his “battle of the brawl” t-shirts. LOL. McDowell looked comfortable the whole game while Mellott looked scared and stiff. The Texan played better than the Butte boy in that game. BobcatBuiltTexan isn’t too far over his skis.

There have been 10 Montana natives that have played the game of the career for every one Montana native that plays bad. 2018- the guys who stepped up there were Montanans. Adam Jones last year. You could go on forever about Montanans that have had great games because of their passion, on both sides of the rivalry.

Also I don’t think it was Tommy’s fault he has 4-13, 90% of those balls were 50/50 balls and there were some drops, specifically McCullouch dropped a deep wide open touchdown.

Zero Bobcat fans are against having out of state kids but we can all recognize how massive this game is for the Montana kids and more times than not they make huge plays.

Almost EVERY play in the Miracle was made by a Montana kid!

[Monymony]

The gris haven't ever seen an offense like the Cats.

Or a defense… or a special teams.

[seataccat]

Griz offense is slightly better on paper but Cats D is better. Both teams are playing good football. I think in order for the Cats to win this game they'll need to put pressure on Ah Yat and contain Worthan and Gillman. Our offense will need to show up and play with consistency, unlike Mercyhurst or Cal Poly where they appear out-of-sync with long possession times but no points. Lamson looks sharp when he's on his game but when he's off makes poor reads and risky decisions running the ball where he doesn't protect himself. Think he does this sometimes to motivate himself but could result in injury. I'm not very confident about this game mostly because of how the last four years of the Brawl have disproportionally skewed the advantage for the home team. Coaches will need to prepare the team to overcome this as well as the noisy, hostile environment at WaGriz.

That's a very reasonable report

I. Think it is so very important to not have a slow start and fall behind like they did against UCD. The home field in Missoula makes it really hard to play from behind.

[tetoncat]

Griz offense is slightly better on paper but Cats D is better. Both teams are playing good football. I think in order for the Cats to win this game they'll need to put pressure on Ah Yat and contain Worthan and Gillman. Our offense will need to show up and play with consistency, unlike Mercyhurst or Cal Poly where they appear out-of-sync with long possession times but no points. Lamson looks sharp when he's on his game but when he's off makes poor reads and risky decisions running the ball where he doesn't protect himself. Think he does this sometimes to motivate himself but could result in injury. I'm not very confident about this game mostly because of how the last four years of the Brawl have disproportionally skewed the advantage for the home team. Coaches will need to prepare the team to overcome this as well as the noisy, hostile environment at WaGriz.

That's a very reasonable report

I. Think it is so very important to not have a slow start and fall behind like they did against UCD. The home field in Missoula makes it really hard to play from behind.

Unless your Eastern Washington

[BOBCATBORN]

Montana State SOS - 26 with a opp win percentage of .533
Gris SOS - 100 with a opp win percentage of .4375

https://www.warrennolan.com/fcs/2025/sos-elo (lots of good info on this)

[MrGoodKat]

The truly comparable sample of opponents are conference games.

Cats' BSC opponents have gone a collective 20-29 in league play.

The Griz BSC opponents have gone a collective 18-31 in league play.

Very similar SOS. The slight advantage towards the Cats is balanced by the fact that UM has played one more road game.

Both undefeated in BSC play.

[TomCat88]

The truly comparable sample of opponents are conference games.

Cats' BSC opponents have gone a collective 20-29 in league play.

The Griz BSC opponents have gone a collective 18-31 in league play.

Very similar SOS. The slight advantage towards the Cats is balanced by the fact that UM has played one more road game.

Both undefeated in BSC play.

Conference games are good. I like comparing how MSU has played on the road vs. how UM has played at home in conference games.

[MrGoodKat]

The truly comparable sample of opponents are conference games.

Cats' BSC opponents have gone a collective 20-29 in league play.

The Griz BSC opponents have gone a collective 18-31 in league play.

Very similar SOS. The slight advantage towards the Cats is balanced by the fact that UM has played one more road game.

Both undefeated in BSC play.

Conference games are good. I like comparing how MSU has played on the road vs. how UM has played at home in conference games.

It's a small sample, but UM has allowed 21 PPG at home vs ID, CP, and EW. This is basically a FG better then their overall conference PPG allowed figure.

MSU has scored 41 PPG on the road @ NAU, CP, and UNC. This is almost a TD worse than their overall conference PPG.

[MrGoodKat]

A major factor this week is the health of Paul Brott. He was out for Weber and they majorly outperformed the average rushing stats that we have come to expect. He was hobbled on Saturday and you could see it at times.

[CelticCat]

Code: Select all

PFF Conference Grades

Metric		Cats		Griz
Coverage	91.1 (2nd)	91.5 (1st)
Pass Rush	67.2 (7th)	71.9 (3rd)
Rush Defense	92.8 (1st)	90.7 (3rd)
Tackling	79.3 (4th)	81.6 (2nd)
Overall Defense	92.4 (1st)	91.8 (2nd)
		
Passing		79.2 (3rd)	81.5 (2nd)
Pass Blocking	84.0 (1st)	72.1 (7th)
Running		92.7 (1st)	87.1 (3rd)
Run Blocking	76.8 (1st)	65.3 (2nd)
Receiving	76.5 (3rd)	77.9 (1st)
Overall Offense	90.2 (1st)	83.8 (3rd)
		
Overall		93.6 (1st)	92 (2nd)