When the final whistle blew and the field flooded, the magnitude hit all at once.
“You look out there and the field is full, and the stands still seem full,” Brent Vigen said. “You’re just so grateful to be at a place that is so well-supported and has so many people that care.”
The gratitude came only after a night that never settled into anything comfortable. Montana State had to survive penalties, limited possessions, and constant swings in momentum before finally closing out a 35–34 overtime win.
“It’s an odd game,” Vigen said. “It’s an odd game for us. Our offensive opportunities were less than we usually would maybe like to have. There’s credit that goes to Illinois State for being able to limit those and then force us to punt a few times.”
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Mistakes piled up throughout the night, but the Bobcats never lost their footing.
“I’m looking at this right here (statsheet) 14 penalties for 93 yards,” Vigen said. “To overcome that…just a strange game where you don’t turn the ball over, but you are at that huge disadvantage as far as the way it worked.”
Even with fewer chances than usual, Montana State found ways to strike decisively.
“We had more big plays than them at the same time,” he said. “The score before the half was kind of ridiculous…to score in three plays.”
As the game tightened late and chaos crept in, Vigen leaned on something simpler than scheme or situation.
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“We talked about keeping the main thing the main thing going into this game,” Vigen said. “And that is just us playing…trying to play as one. We are our best when we play as one. To do that you need to trust one another. You need to believe.”
That trust defined the final outcome and the championship run itself.
“Players win games. Players win championships,” Vigen said. “Coaches certainly guide them, put them in position, hopefully bring them along and build that belief, but trusting your players and allowing them to go make plays is really what this is all about.”
When it finally ended, the significance stretched well beyond one night. The Montana State Bobcats were champions again for the first time in four decades, lifting a trophy a program had not held since 1984.
“This ’25 group accomplished what hadn’t been done in a long time,” Vigen said. “But we’re building for more.”
Only briefly did he allow himself to pause.
“You feel like you can maybe exhale a little bit,” Vigen said. “But right back to work.”
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