Montana State

The Montana State Bobcats football program competes in the Big Sky Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision for Montana State University. The program began in 1897 and has won four national championships (1956, 1976, 1984 and 2025). It is the only college football program in the nation to win national championships on three different levels of competition, NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS). Through the 2024 season, the Bobcats had played in 1,077 games with an all-time record of 548–497–32. The first championship came in Montana State's last season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which moved to NAIA in 1952. The national championship was the first ever for the RMAC and was also the first time the NAIA had a football champion. The Bobcats were members of the RMAC from 1917 to 1956, after being an independent from 1897 to 1916. MSC rejoined the NCAA (College Division) in 1957, and had one of its most successful runs as an independent from 1957 to 1962 with six straight winning seasons, including an 8–2 mark in 1957 and 8–1 in 1958. In 1963, Montana State became a charter member of the Big Sky Conference and has since won two national championships. Montana State has won 23 conference titles, including 18 in the Big Sky Conference and five in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Bobcats have won conference titles in eight of the past nine decades and have won multiple conference titles in seven of the last eight decades. MSU finished the 1926 season undefeated in RMAC conference games, but was not awarded a conference title. They have qualified for the NCAA playoffs thirteen times, once (1976) as a Division II member and thirteen times (1984, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024) as a Division I-AA/FCS member. Through the 2024 season, the Bobcats are 21–14–2 in postseason play. Their primary rival are the Montana Grizzlies, whom they meet in the annual Brawl of the Wild, more commonly referred to as the "Cat-Griz" game by MSU students, alumni and supporters.