Brawl of the Wild
Teams	University of Montana Grizzlies Montana Grizzlies football The Montana Grizzlies football program represents the University of Montana in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision of college football. The Grizzlies have competed in the Big Sky Conference, where it is a founding member, since 1963... Montana State University Montana State University - Bozeman Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...  Bobcats Montana State Bobcats football The Montana State Bobcats football program competes in the Big Sky Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision for Montana State University. The program began in 1897 and has won three national championships...
Trophy	Great Divide Trophy
Alternative Names	Cat-Griz Griz-Cat
Originated	Nov. 25, 1897
Series	111 Games Montana leads 70-36-5
First Game	Montana 18, MSU 6 (Nov. 25, 1897)
Largest Victory	Montana 79, Montana State 0 (1904)
Highest Scoring Game	Montana 59, MSU 28 (October 25, 1986)
Lowest Scoring Game	Montana 0, MSU 0 Three times (1908, 1910, 1928)
Longest Win Streaks	Montana 16 (1986-2001) MSU 6 (three times)
Most Recent Game	Montana 36, MSU 10 (November 19, 2011)
Current Streak	Montana 1 (2011)
Last Ten Games	Montana leads, 6-4
Next Game	Missoula (November 2012)

The Brawl of the Wild is an annual college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 rivalry game between the Montana State University

Montana State University - Bozeman

Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...

 Bobcats and the University of Montana Grizzlies. The rivalry began on November 26, 1897 when the two teams played in Bozeman

Bozeman, Montana

Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, home of Montana State, with Montana prevailing by the score of 18-6. At the time, Montana State was known as Montana State College, while Montana was known as Montana State. The rivalry is the 31st oldest among active rivalries in NCAA Division I and of those is the 11th oldest west of the Mississippi River. It is also the 4th oldest active rivalry in the FCS and the oldest west of the Mississippi River.

During a period that is often referred to in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 as "The Streak", Montana won every meeting from 1986 until 2001. A few of these games were close, but most of them gave a strong indication that the two football programs were going in very different directions. Montana won two NCAA Division 1-AA championships during "The Streak", while Montana State had one season where they failed to win a single game. On a cold, snowy day in November 2002, Montana State was finally able to go on the road and snap Montana's 16 game run.

The game almost always, especially of late, has major implications on the Big Sky Conference

Big Sky Conference

The Big Sky Conference is an intercollegiate college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I, with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. The BSC was founded in 1963. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the states of Arizona,...

 championship and its automatic bid to the Division I tournament. The name "Brawl of the Wild" is now used almost exclusively to refer to the matchup in official publications, but most people in Montana affectionately refer to the game simply as "Cat-Griz" (Bobcat fans) or "Griz-Cat" (Grizzly fans).

The Great Divide Trophy

The Great Divide Trophy was first awarded in 2001. It has since changed hands six times.

History

The Brawl of the Wild is the game between MSU and their primary rival, the University of Montana Grizzlies, for The Great Divide Trophy. As of the most recent matchup in November 2011, Montana leads the series 70-36-5.

The series has three distinct periods. From 1897 to 1916 the teams didn't belong to a conference and at times would play twice per year. Early seasons had seven games or less with one season seeing the Grizzlies play just one game. Four of the five ties in the series came during this era. Montana won 12 games to Montana State's 7.

In 1917 Montana State joined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and in 1924 Montana joined what is now the PAC-12 Conference when it entered the Pacific Coast Conference. The RMAC included several teams that would become Mountain West members. When MSU joined the RMAC included Colorado, Colorado State, Utah, Utah State, and Brigham Young. When UM joined the PCC included Stanford, California, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, and Idaho. The Bobcats remained in the RMAC through 1956, while the Grizzlies remained in the PCC through 1949 and joined the Skyline (aka Mountain States) Conference from 1951-1961. MSU was independent from 1957-1962 and UM was independent in 1950 and 1962. During this period UM enjoyed a 30-8-1 edge in Cat-Griz games.

Both schools entered the Big Sky Conference as charter members in 1963 with Montana holding a 42-15-2 series lead. From 1963 to 1985 Montana State enjoyed its most successful period of the Cat-Griz rivalry. MSU won 17 games to just six for UM. Following that Montana started "The Streak" when it won 16 straight games from 1986 to 2001. MSU ended the drought by winning three of four, while UM holds a 6-4 edge after "The Streak" with Montana winning the most recent game 36-10 in Bozeman. The Big Sky era shows Montana with a 28-21 lead.

Montana has won 22 of the last 26 meetings. Since MSU won its first national championship in 1956, the series shows UM with a 30-26 edge.

Game results

#	Year	Winning team		Losing team		Series
1	1897	Montana	18	Montana State	6	Montana leads 1-0
2	1898	Montana	6	Montana State	0	Montana leads 2-0
3	1898	Montana	16	Montana State	0	Montana leads 3-0
4	1899	Montana State	5	Montana	0	Montana leads 3-1
5	1899	Montana State	38	Montana	0	Montana leads 3-2
6	1900	Montana State	38	Montana	0	Series tied 3-3
7	1901	Montana State	31	Montana	0	Montana State leads 4-3
8	1902	Montana State	38	Montana	0	Montana State leads 5-3
9	1903	Montana State	13	Montana	6	Montana State leads 6-3
10	1904	Montana	79	Montana State	0	Montana State leads 6-4
1905
1906
1907
11	1908	Montana	0	Montana State	0	Montana State leads 6-4-1
12	1908	Montana State	5	Montana	0	Montana State leads 7-4-1
13	1909	Montana	3	Montana State	0	Montana State leads 7-5-1
14	1909	Montana	15	Montana State	5	Montana State leads 7-6-1
15	1910	Montana	0	Montana State	0	Montana State leads 7-6-2
16	1910	Montana	10	Montana State	0	Series tied 7-7-2
1911
17	1912	Montana	7	Montana State	0	Montana leads 8-7-2
18	1912	Montana	39	Montana State	3	Montana leads 9-7-2
19	1913	Montana	7	Montana State	0	Montana leads 10-7-2
20	1913	Montana	20	Montana State	7	Montana leads 11-7-2
21	1914	Montana	26	Montana State	9	Montana leads 12-7-2
1915
22	1916	Montana	6	Montana State	6	Montana leads 12-7-3
23	1917	Montana	9	Montana State	7	Montana leads 13-7-3
1918
24	1919	Montana	6	Montana State	6	Montana leads 13-7-4
24	1920	Montana	28	Montana State	0	Montana leads 14-7-4
25	1921	Montana	14	Montana State	7	Montana leads 15-7-4
26	1922	Montana	7	Montana State	6	Montana leads 16-7-4
27	1923	Montana	24	Montana State	13	Montana leads 17-7-4
1924
28	1925	Montana	28	Montana State	7	Montana leads 18-7-4
29	1926	Montana	27	Montana State	0	Montana leads 19-7-4
30	1927	Montana	6	Montana State	0	Montana leads 20-7-4
31	1928	Montana	0	Montana State	0	Montana leads 20-7-5
32	1929	Montana State	14	Montana	12	Montana leads 20-8-5
33	1930	Montana	13	Montana State	6	Montana leads 21-8-5
34	1931	Montana	37	Montana State	6	Montana leads 22-8-5
35	1932	Montana State	10	Montana	7	Montana leads 22-9-5
36	1933	Montana	32	Montana State	0	Montana leads 23-9-5
37	1934	Montana	25	Montana State	0	Montana leads 24-9-5
38	1935	Montana	20	Montana State	0	Montana leads 25-9-5
39	1936	Montana	27	Montana State	0	Montana leads 26-9-5
40	1937	Montana	19	Montana State	0	Montana leads 27-9-5
41	1938	Montana	13	Montana State	0	Montana leads 28-9-5
42	1939	Montana	6	Montana State	0	Montana leads 29-9-5
43	1940	Montana	6	Montana State	0	Montana leads 30-9-5
44	1941	Montana	23	Montana State	13	Montana leads 31-9-5
1942
1943
1944
1945
46	1946	Montana	20	Montana State	7	Montana leads 32-9-5
47	1947	Montana State	13	Montana	12	Montana leads 32-10-5
48	1948	Montana	14	Montana State	0	Montana leads 33-10-5
49	1949	Montana	34	Montana State	12	Montana leads 34-10-5
50	1950	Montana	33	Montana State	0	Montana leads 35-10-5
51	1951	Montana	38	Montana State	0	Montana leads 36-10-5
52	1952	Montana	35	Montana State	12	Montana leads 37-10-5
53	1953	Montana	32	Montana State	13	Montana leads 38-10-5
54	1954	Montana	25	Montana State	12	Montana leads 39-10-5
55	1955	Montana	19	Montana State	0	Montana leads 40-10-5
56	1956	Montana State	33	Montana	14	Montana leads 40-11-5
57	1957	Montana State	22	Montana	13	Montana leads 40-12-5
58	1958	Montana State	20	Montana	6	Montana leads 40-13-5
59	1959	Montana State	40	Montana	6	Montana leads 40-14-5
60	1960	Montana	10	Montana State	6	Montana leads 41-14-5
61	1961	Montana State	10	Montana	9	Montana leads 41-15-5
62	1962	Montana	36	Montana State	19	Montana leads 42-15-5
63	1963	Montana State	18	Montana	3	Montana leads 42-16-5
64	1964	Montana State	30	Montana	6	Montana leads 42-17-5
65	1965	Montana State	24	Montana	7	Montana leads 42-18-5
66	1966	Montana State	38	Montana	0	Montana leads 42-19-5
67	1967	Montana State	14	Montana	8	Montana leads 42-20-5
68	1968	Montana State	29	Montana	24	Montana leads 42-21-5
69	1969	Montana	7	Montana State	6	Montana leads 43-21-5
70	1970	Montana	35	Montana State	0	Montana leads 44-21-5
71	1971	Montana	30	Montana State	0	Montana leads 45-21-5
72	1972	Montana State	21	Montana	3	Montana leads 45-22-5
73	1973	Montana State	33	Montana	7	Montana leads 45-23-5
74	1974	Montana State	43	Montana	29	Montana leads 45-24-5
75	1975	Montana State	20	Montana	3	Montana leads 45-25-5
76	1976	Montana State	21	Montana	12	Montana leads 45-26-5
77	1977	Montana State	24	Montana	19	Montana leads 45-27-5
78	1978	Montana	24	Montana State	8	Montana leads 46-27-5
79	1979	Montana State	38	Montana	21	Montana leads 46-28-5
80	1980	Montana State	24	Montana	7	Montana leads 46-29-5
81	1981	Montana	27	Montana State	17	Montana leads 47-29-5
82	1982	Montana	45	Montana State	15	Montana leads 48-29-5
83	1983	Montana State	28	Montana	8	Montana leads 48-30-5
84	1984	Montana State	34	Montana	24	Montana leads 48-31-5
85	1985	Montana State	41	Montana	18	Montana leads 48-32-5
86	1986	Montana	59	Montana State	28	Montana leads 49-32-5
87	1987	Montana	55	Montana State	7	Montana leads 50-32-5
88	1988	Montana	17	Montana State	3	Montana leads 51-32-5
89	1989	Montana	17	Montana State	2	Montana leads 52-32-5
90	1990	Montana	35	Montana State	18	Montana leads 53-32-5
91	1991	Montana	16	Montana State	9	Montana leads 54-32-5
92	1992	Montana	29	Montana State	17	Montana leads 55-32-5
93	1993	Montana	42	Montana State	30	Montana leads 56-32-5
94	1994	Montana	55	Montana State	20	Montana leads 57-32-5
95	1995	Montana	42	Montana State	33	Montana leads 58-32-5
96	1996	Montana	35	Montana State	14	Montana leads 59-32-5
97	1997	Montana	27	Montana State	25	Montana leads 60-32-5
98	1998	Montana	28	Montana State	21	Montana leads 61-32-5
99	1999	Montana	49	Montana State	3	Montana leads 62-32-5
100	2000	Montana	28	Montana State	3	Montana leads 63-32-5
101	2001	Montana	38	Montana State	27	Montana leads 64-32-5
102	2002	Montana State	10	Montana	7	Montana leads 64-33-5
103	2003	Montana State	27	Montana	20	Montana leads 64-34-5
104	2004	Montana	38	Montana State	22	Montana leads 65-34-5
105	2005	Montana State	16	Montana	6	Montana leads 65-35-5
106	2006	Montana	13	Montana State	7	Montana leads 66-35-5
107	2007	Montana	41	Montana State	20	Montana leads 67-35-5
108	2008	Montana	35	Montana State	3	Montana leads 68-35-5
109	2009	Montana	33	Montana State	19	Montana leads 69-35-5
110	2010	Montana State	21	Montana	16	Montana leads 69-36-5
111	2011	Montana	36	Montana State	10	Montana leads 70-36-5