116th Brawl of the Wild: George Ferguson Column: Here's hoping for a return of high stakes Cat-Griz games someday soon

They say Christmas is the most wonderful time of year. I can’t really argue with that considering how I do love Christmas. But for me, the most wonderful time of the year is usually the third Saturday in November.

That Saturday is reserved for the annual showdown between the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats. Cat-Griz, Griz-Cat, Brawl of the Wild, whatever you prefer to call it, to me, that’s the most wonderful time of my year.

However, here in the year of 2016, in the year of the Chicago Cubs, of an insanely controversial presidential election, in a year when I almost got attacked by a real live grizzly bear, in a year that has been anything but normal, and at times, anything but wonderful, should I be surprised that the 116th meeting between the Bobcats and Grizzlies doesn’t exactly have a wonderful tone surrounding it either? Should I consider it funny some fans are dubbing Saturday's game the "Brawl of the Mild"?

I have often pondered this question: What if there came a time when, at least to the fate of both teams’ season, the Cat-Griz game was meaningless? I have never really seen one in my 30-plus years of watching the rivalry. But now, in this weird year of 2016, I’m about to find out the answer.

I’m in no way calling the game itself meaningless, because it’s not. It will always mean so much to the fans of both teams in this great state. After all, it’s our Super Bowl, it’s our Iron Bowl, it’s our North Carolina/Duke, it’s our Ohio State/Michigan, it’s our Yankees/Red Sox, and the meaning, tradition and reverence surrounding Cat-Griz will never be diminished.

Saturday’s game won’t be meaningless to the players and coaches either. They’ll go at each other with everything they’ve got, playing their guts out for the pride and tradition of the names on the front of their jerseys. No player, Cat or Griz, wants to lose to the other. Not now, not ever.

And yet, this Cat-Griz game, as it relates to the Big Sky Conference, the FCS playoffs, the FCS Polls and more, it really is pretty meaningless. I hate that I even had to type those words, but they are true. Neither team has a playoff berth on the line, though, I guess, the Griz aren’t mathematically out of it yet. Both teams lost their chance to win a Big Sky championship back when it was still 80 degrees and sunny, and the trees all had their leaves on them. Both teams lost their chance to be really good this season long before hunting season started, and long before most of us put our golf clubs away.

That’s the harsh reality of this Cat-Griz game. Neither the Bobcats, nor the Grizzlies are playing for anything but pride, and for their school, and that’s unusual. Usually, the stakes are high. Usually, one team, or both has a lot riding on this game. Not this season though. Not in 2016.

So now, a new question has arisen, and it’s one I’m at least going to try and answer succinctly, though I'm not too good at that. And that question is: how did we get here? How in the heck did Cat-Griz, at least for this season, come down to this?

To me, the answer is both complicated and simple at the same time. And that answer is, in both programs, somewhere along the way, some people have failed both programs.

I’m trying to not get on my soapbox too much, but the facts are pretty obvious. In some ways, people have dropped the ball in both of our NCAA Division I football programs.

In the case of the Grizzlies, fans are really mad at head coach Bob Stitt right now, but let’s not forget, Montana is on NCAA probation. And, under self-imposed penalties at that. The loss of four scholarships per year for four years, graduate assistants and other sanctions have no doubt taken their toll on the program, and those were all sanctions made by the university and offered to the NCAA, not the other way around.

The controversy and scandal that rocked the Griz’ program not long ago no doubt put it in a precarious position, just as much on the football field, as it did off it. And denying that is being seriously naïve.

Some folks believe the penalties were too harsh at Montana and didn’t fit the crime. I’m in that camp too. But what’s done is done, whether I agreed with those decisions or not. But I will say, it’s not surprising to me that the Griz have struggled, struggles that include losing to lowly Northern Colorado, while on NCAA probation. I mean, USC, Miami, Alabama, Penn State, and so many others couldn’t sustain their success either when they were under NCAA sanctions, so why should the Griz be any different? The answer is, they aren’t. Plain and simple. And that’s exactly why the mighty Griz have slipped. They haven’t completely fallen, but they have definitely slipped. Changing head coaches three times in less than a decade hasn’t helped either.

On the other side of the Divide is the case of the Bobcats. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Cats came into a string of Brawls as the higher-ranked team, as the favorite. It wasn’t that long ago that “The Streak” was buried and forgotten in Bozeman.

Now, however, MSU limps into Cat-Griz having suffered its second straight losing season. Yes, I don’t care that the Cats beat up on UC Davis last Saturday, at 3-7, they are limping into Cat-Griz. They are not the Cats team I’m used to seeing coming into the Brawl.

How did they fall so fast? Again, and it’s just my opinion, but I’m not sure firing the winningest coach in school history was the answer to any problems MSU may have been having on the football field. I know it’s the easy thing to do, blame the coach, but, coaching changes don’t always produce results either, not immediately, and sometimes, not ever. And the results the decision to replace Ash are producing this year are pretty, well, not very good.

Yes, Rob Ash’ 2015 team, even with Dakota Prukop driving the offense went 5-6 and got shellacked by the Griz last November in Bozeman. Yes, I get that Bobcat fans felt his teams lacked fire and underachieved. But, all the good Ash did while he was at MSU, and everything good surrounding the entire MSU campus seemed to have been completely chucked out the window when Ash was let go.

As a whole, MSU is thriving. It’s a budding, wonderful university with amazing educational opportunities. It’s a beacon of educational light, and the standard-bearer for higher education in the Treasure State. And yet, its proud football team is now forced to endure what looks to me like a lengthy rebuilding process, all because some folks decided the last coach wasn’t getting it done quite good enough. Some folks decided that, winning the most games in the history of that proud program wasn’t good enough. And while I’ve seen many optimistic MSU fans this season saying it was definitely the right thing to do, at least with where MSU is at heading into Saturday’s Brawl, I humbly disagree.

Now, don’t misunderstand me MSU fans, I know it’s not that simple. I know all the complexities and complaints about the Ash regime, inside and outside the lockerroom. I’m just still not convinced the decision to fire him was the right one.

And, no matter how many folks think it was right, we’re still here right now, and reality is reality. And that harsh reality is, Montana State football isn’t in a very good place right now, at least not three days before its annual showdown with the Montana Grizzlies, and that’s disappointing to me.

In the case of both the Griz and Bobcats, the reality is that neither program is in a very good place right now, and I personally don’t believe that that’s entirely the fault of either UM head coach Bob Stitt or MSU head coach Jeff Choate, or current Bobcat and Grizzly. In fact, I know it’s not entirely their fault. They both inherited some things that were based on what I consider very suspect decisions on the part of others.

And while I get that coaches are paid very well to produce wins, and scholarship athletes shouldn’t drop passes or miss tackles, a lot of what has happened to both of our mighty college football programs in Montana this fall has very little to do with what’s gone on in between the lines.

A lot of the Griz’ and Cats’ shortcomings were set in motion and were inevitable well before the season started.

And another harsh reality of where we’re at right now when it comes to the Cat-Griz game is this: You know who really loses out? The state of Montana. At least for 2016, we’ve all been robbed of this one day that means the most to so many of us. At the very least, we've been robbed of the high stakes and intrigue that normally comes with a Brawl of the Wild. Will we do our best to enjoy the game? Yes, I suspect so. Will we still crack jokes about the other school all week, and give our friends on the other side of the rivalry a hard time? Yes. That won’t go away either.

One mediocre to bad season by both teams won't wipe out 116 years of tradition.

But the reality remains, some of the shine of Cat-Griz is gone, at least for one year. Some of the glory that is this game is a little less glorious this season, and that’s disappointing and frustrating, and I don’t like it.

And if you don't believe me that some of the shine is gone, consider the fact that it's Wednesday and the game isn't completely sold out. When has that happened before?

No, I would much rather see both Montana and Montana State roll into Cat-Griz with perfect 10-0 records. I would much rather see the game decide the Big Sky title. I would much rather see two really great football teams going at it with the pride of Montana on the line. Griz fan or Cat fan, I think we can all agree on that, and sadly, that’s just not the case come this Saturday in Missoula.

Having said all of that, and yes I know I've said a lot, there’s no going back either.

We are where we are, and, as one of so many people in this state who truly cares about this game, this rivalry, I hope it can be fixed, and I hope it can be fixed soon. Whoever has dropped the ball on both sides of the Divide, administrators, coaches, or whoever, I don’t care who is to blame, please, pick the ball up and start moving forward again, because Saturday in Missoula, with the two teams having a combined record of 9-11, yes a combined sub. .500 record, that’s not OK with me, and it’s not OK with the state of Montana.

From this moment forward, I’m done assigning blame, and I'm done looking back. Please, just somebody fix it. Because I want MY Cat-Griz game back.