2023 Montana State Bobcats football team

2023 Montana State Bobcats football
2023 Montana State Bobcats football
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 34–35OT vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 9
FCS Coaches	No. 8
Record	8–4 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Brent Vigen (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Taylor Housewright (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Willie Mack Garza (2nd season)
Home stadium	Bobcat Stadium
	Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 Montana $^	7	–	1	13	–	2
No. 8 Idaho ^	6	–	2	9	–	4
No. 9 Montana State ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
Northern Arizona	5	–	3	5	–	6
No. 24 UC Davis	5	–	3	7	–	4
No. 13 Sacramento State ^	4	–	4	8	–	5
Portland State	4	–	4	5	–	6
Weber State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Eastern Washington	3	–	5	4	–	7
Idaho State	3	–	5	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	3	–	8
Northern Colorado	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2023 Montana State Bobcats football team represented Montana State University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bobcats were led by third-year head coach Brent Vigen and played home games at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, Montana.

Preseason[edit]

Polls[edit]

On July 23, 2023, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Bobcats were predicted to finish first in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana State	120 (10)
2	UC Davis	96 (1)
3	Sacramento State	94 (1)
4	Weber State	91
5	Idaho	89
6	Montana	84
7	Eastern Washington	52
8	Portland State	45
9	Northern Arizona	44
10	Northern Colorado	37
11	Cal Poly	25
12	Idaho State	15

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana State	447 (26)
2	Idaho	410 (8)
3	Montana	359 (2)
4	Sacramento State	334 (3)
5	UC Davis	330
6	Weber State	320
7	Eastern Washington	216
8	Northern Arizona	178
9	Portland State	167
10	Northern Colorado	109
11	Cal Poly	103
12	Idaho State	69

Schedule[edit]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	6:00 p.m.	Utah Tech*	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	W 63–20	21,967
September 9	5:00 p.m.	at No. 1 South Dakota State*	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN+	L 16–20	19,332
September 16	1:00 p.m.	Stetson*	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	W 57–20	21,487
September 23	6:00 p.m.	at No. 10 Weber State	No. 3	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	ESPN+	W 40–0	10,905
September 30	2:00 p.m.	Portland State	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	W 38–22	22,017
October 14	6:00 p.m.	Cal Poly	No. 2	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	W 59–19	21,997
October 21	8:30 p.m.	at No. 3 Sacramento State	No. 2	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	ESPN2	W 42–30	16,122
October 28	2:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Idaho	No. 2	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	ESPN+	L 21–24	13,073
November 4	1:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	No. 6	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	W 45–21	21,297
November 11	1:00 p.m.	Eastern Washington	No. 5	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	W 57–14	20,897
November 18	12:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Montana	No. 4	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry)	ESPN+	L 7–37	27,178
December 2	1:00 p.m.	No. 8 North Dakota State*	No. 5	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	L 34–35 ^OT	17,247
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[2]

Game summaries[edit]

vs Utah Tech[edit]

at No. 1 South Dakota State[edit]

vs Stetson[edit]

at No. 10 Weber State[edit]

vs Portland State[edit]

vs Cal Poly[edit]

at No. 3 Sacramento State[edit]

at Idaho[edit]

vs Northern Arizona[edit]

vs Eastern Washington[edit]

at Montana[edit]

Ranking movements[edit]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	6	5	4	5
Coaches	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	8	5	4	8

References[edit]

^ "Montana State Tabbed Preseason Football Favorites". July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
^ "2023 Montana State Football Schedule". msubobcats.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.

[1] "Montana State Tabbed Preseason Football Favorites". July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2023.

[2] "2023 Montana State Football Schedule". msubobcats.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.

[1]

[2]

v t e Montana State Bobcats football
Venues	Gatton Field (1930–1971) Van Winkle Stadium (1972) Bobcat Stadium (1973–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Montana
Culture & lore	Spirit of the West Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

2023 Montana State Bobcats football

NCAA Division I Second Round, L 34–35^OT vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 9
FCS Coaches	No. 8
Record	8–4 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Brent Vigen (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Taylor Housewright (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Willie Mack Garza (2nd season)
Home stadium	Bobcat Stadium
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

v t e 2023 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Albany Austin Peay Chattanooga Delaware Drake Duquesne Furman Gardner–Webb Idaho Lafayette Mercer Montana Montana State Nicholls North Carolina Central North Dakota North Dakota State Richmond Sacramento State South Dakota South Dakota State Southern Illinois Villanova Youngstown State
Champion – South Dakota State