We would have spanked Villanova. That redbird #5 is a total beast, but i think the cats have the muscle to slow him down.

Ilinois St defense by game:

SELA: 321 yds, 3 points
NDST: 179 yds, 28 points (thought got a punt return TD, Int return TD and an Int return to the 4 that led to a TD)
UC Davis: 533 yds, 31 points
Nova: 300 yds, 14 points

So ISU allowed 1333 yds so far in the playoffs and we accounted for 40 percent of them. They allowed 76 points in the playoffs and we accounted for 40.8 percent of them. If you take out the two return TDs for NDSt, we scored half the points the ISU defense has allowed.

It's all hypothetical because Illinois State is good. Sure we would probably have defeated Villanova, but the results show that it wasn't just us playing poorly. Illinois State played well.

I'm happy to see Illinois State in the finals. They certainly deserve to be there. One of the things that was fortunate for them this season is just how healthy they have managed to stay and that's huge. I wouldn't be disappointed to see them win the title but I'll be pulling for MSU to make the Big Sky Conference proud.

No question the redbirds played great down the stretch, especially considering they were unranked and had to travel all over the country to get to the finals.
BTW, i don’t know what the attendance was for the semi final game, but the stands looked sparse. Maybe winter break hurt their attendance.

4000.

Spark any thoughts/ideas?

Natty:
I like Brock Spack more than I like Brent Vigen.

But I am also Big Sky homer.

There was something sort of likeable about Illinois State, especially on offense when they lined-up and ran inside zone plays for three hours a few weeks back. Nothing fancy, went on the road three weeks in a row and just won football games.

There isn't much I like about Montana State. Especially when their Tailback is practically fighting the head coach after a game, or that turnover cowboy hat, all the California girls in the student section, etc. However, I do like the game of that Taco kid, and I like his brother even more. And I love the giant snake of beer cups passed around the stands. I like them better than the team to the south or the artists formerly known as the Go-Gos...

Tough call. Montana State is the better football team. Illinois State has grit and "it" to win...

I think Montana State's DEFENSE is the difference. Bobcats Big Sky to cover the 10-10.5 points!

Ags lost 4 games in 2025 --- 2 of those teams that beat them are in the FCS championship. This makes me feel better in a very marginal way, however, knowing how the whole playoff bracket stacked up, we'll never see a cleaner road to the final, just didn't put it together in the end...and you know what...with all the injuries that were sustained, we didn't deserve to be the team fighting for the Title - we couldn't stay healthy and all that matters.

Who do I want to see win it?
Montana State -- want the Big Sky to get one -- and with my niece being a Bobcat it'd be cool for her, even though she's way more into skiing that football.

I like Spack better too. I always find it a bit ironic when all the Montana schools talk about is “who has more Montana kids” and seem to focus on them
when many of their players are from out of state (CA for example).

First drive overreaction: Montana St is too good for ISU this year. A sac and multiple penalties and they got a TD anyway.

Two drive overreaction: The clock might have struck midnight on Illinois St.

Not so fast my friend :-). Illinois State must avoid penalties and other mistakes and milk the clock to have a chance. Don’t think they will panic-too senior of a team, but Montana State does look like the better team. Montana State has the ability to score much more quickly.

Well I guess I was prophetic about scoring fast

Man that one hurts ISU. You finally score and you give up a 3 play TD drive in 30 seconds and Montana St gets the ball to start the second half. If it gets to 24-7 or 28-7, it’s just about over.

The cats look really tough. I haven’t seen the stats, but their D appears to be limiting ISU #5 who might have cost us our game with them.

Dawson over 100 yards. Cats have slight edge in total yards but have the big plays.

Got to hand it to ISU. They’re hanging in this thing and it’s not over yet.

Dawson has been more effective in the second half.

ISU putting the heat on Lamson. They have the makeup to not panic - gotta wonder if the Bobcats are starting to wonder if they are going to leave the title on the table again.

Montana St has only had the ball for 17:33 this game. They've got to be getting tired on defense.

What a game.

Tie game with 5:10 left.

You can tell Rittenhouse has a lot of experience.

This game has been awesome holy crap.

yeah it’s a huge aspect, especially with how beat up he has gotten this game

Montana St with 7 false start penalties tonight. That's wild.

I don’t know if Montana state knows how to line up, 7 false starts blows my mind, especially with a bigger Montana state crowd.