Brawl of the Wild

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The Brawl of the Wild is an annual college football rivalry game between the University of Montana Grizzlies and the Montana State University Fighting Bobcats. The rivalry began on November 26, 1897 when the two teams played in Bozeman, Montana, home of Montana State, with Montana prevailing by the score of 18-6.

During a period that is often referred to in Montana as "The Streak", Montana won every meeting from 1986 until 2001. A few of these games were close, but most of them gave a strong indication that the two football programs were going in very different directions. Montana won two NCAA Division 1-AA championships during "The Streak", while Montana State had one season where they failed to win a single game. On a cold, snowy day in November 2002, Montana State was finally able to go on the road and snap Montana's 16 game run. From that point on, the host team has won every year.

Montana leads the series 66-35-5.

The game almost always, epically of late, has major implications on the Big Sky Conference championship and it's automatic bid to the Div-1 tournament.

The name "Brawl of the Wild" is now used almost exclusively to refer to the matchup in official publications, but most people in Montana affectionately refer to the game simply as "Cat-Griz".

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