Cats vs Griz

So The Game is this weekend. A football matchup that’s that’s one of the biggest rivalries in college football. It pits Montanan against Montanan—families choose sides, marriages sometimes split for those hours on game day… Bets are placed. Friends jaw at each other.

One thing we like to take pride in, whether you’re a fan of the Cats or Griz—is watching Montana players on the field. Whichever side of the field we view the game from, we like seeing homegrown kids come out of the tunnels.

Speaking of which, Charley was witness to a couple conversations this past weekend as the anticipation of the year’s matchup approaches.

The two separate conversations went this way:

First Conversation

“Well, the Cats just load their team up with out-of-state players, ringers the coaches shop around for. It’s all about winning and they could care less about Montana kids.”

Second Conversation

“The Griz are all out-of-staters—a bunch of California kids they bring in and offer big money to play in their cool stadium. It’s all about getting the dubs.”

One thing they agreed on of course, it’s about getting a “W” from the final regular season game of the year. Hard to argue with that! But, we decided to take a look at this week’s rosters as posted on each university’s website and hopefully settle some arguments as to which team carries the most Montana players on its roster

Here are the result as of Nov 18, 2024:

• Griz 43%—49 Montana players on the 114-man roster.

• Cats 41%—45 Montana players on the 110-man roster.

Pretty dang close and a testament to each team’s commitment to the state and giving Montana kids a shot at fame on the gridiron! In a few days we’ll know which team’s faithful will be singing their fight song the loudest over the next year and haul home the 300-pound Great Divide Trophy.