MISSOULA — The biggest Brawl of them all arrives Saturday with massive playoff implications on the line as Montana State and Montana clash for the Big Sky Conference title.
"The winner is certainly going to get the No. 2 seed (for the FCS playoffs), which obviously comes with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs until (the national championship)," said HERO Sports senior FCS analyst Sam Herder.
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Saturday's Cat-Griz winner will claim the outright Big Sky title and is almost guaranteed the No. 2 seed behind undefeated reigning national champion North Dakota State, which owns the best resume in the FCS this season.
But the loser's playoff positioning remains somewhat uncertain.
"I kind of feel like there's a separation between these top three teams compared to Lehigh and Tarleton (State) and Tennessee Tech, so I can certainly see a situation where the loser just goes to 3," Herder said.
That scenario could set up a potential semifinal matchup between the Bobcats and Grizzlies in either Bozeman or Missoula.
"We've seen North Dakota State and South Dakota State meet up half a dozen times in the playoffs, and it's honestly kind of surprising we haven't seen that with the Cats and Griz just yet," Herder said. "And perhaps we can see it this year."
However, the FCS playoff committee could drop Montana State further down the seed lines if it suffers a lopsided loss Saturday.
"I think worst-case scenario would be falling to the 5 seed, and that would require going on the road in the quarterfinals to the 4 seed," Herder said.
And a potential road trip to Fargo, N.D., for a semifinal game against North Dakota State.
