BILLINGS — There will be a rival revival this season when Montana State and Nevada butt heads to rekindle a tug-of-war that dates back to when both programs were prominent members of the Big Sky Conference.
But there's more to it than that.
As the Bobcats invade Mackay Stadium in Reno on Sept. 12, the past and present will collide — and the game will constitute a meeting between a coach who solidified Montana State as a national contender and another who carried the program over the finish line.
In the last of Jeff Choate's four seasons at the helm in Bozeman (2019), the Bobcats won 11 games and advanced to the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs. When Choate departed in the wake of the pandemic-canceled 2020 season he was replaced by Brent Vigen, who nudged the team further into three national title games and eventually won it all last year.
Now Vigen's Bobcats and Choate's Wolf Pack are scheduled to cross paths in a reunion layered with history, familiarity and a shared role in Montana State's rise to the top of the FCS.
"I think that makes it really interesting for our fans," Vigen said of the matchup during the Big Sky Kickoff in July in Spokane, Wash. "Our fans are longstanding fans, and coach Choate is a piece of that. There's no denying it."
This will be the first meeting between the Bobcats and the Wolf Pack in 30 years. But they faced each other in 13 consecutive seasons between 1979 and 1991 when Nevada was with Montana State as combatants of the Big Sky.
Nevada owns the all-time series 12-6, including a 9-4 mark when they tangled as conference rivals.
Yet Nevada wasn't long for the league, and under coach Chris Ault the program jumped to the FBS (then known as Division I-A) in 1992 and became a contender in the Big West and later the Western Athletic Conference.
In 2012 the Wolf Pack joined the Mountain West. And it's been a bit tougher sledding of late. The team has won just 10 total games in the past four years, including a 6-19 mark in the past two seasons under Choate.
It goes without saying the MSU-vs.-Nevada game will carry implications on several fronts outside of simply the Bobcats having, on paper, a good chance to win their second game over a Mountain West foe in as many tries.
For Choate and the FBS Wolf Pack, it'll be a can't-lose game in terms of both the perception and the reality of the direction in which the program is heading.
Nevada Sports Net reported that Choate's first choice in scheduling an FCS team for this season was Montana, not Montana State. But according to NSN, the Grizzlies declined the matchup.
Choate rather famously went 4-0 against Montana during his time as head coach of the Bobcats. As a result, the guy walks on water in many circles in Bozeman.
Now his intent will be to knock Montana State down a peg.
"We have a FCS national championship team coming to our place, and there's obviously some history between me and that place, and there is also a lot of history between Montana State and the University of Nevada that goes all the way back to the Big Sky days," Choate was quoted by NSN at the Mountain West media days.
"I think there's two or three charter planes of fans that are coming down. So, I think it's going to be a good weekend and it's going to be a big atmosphere in Mackay.
"And that's really one of my motivations in choosing one of those two teams. I knew that their fan bases would travel and it would create a better atmosphere for our players, too. That's kind of where we came from with it."
For Vigen and the Cats, it's another chance to flex their muscles against the upper tier, regardless of the Choate connection.
"I think we look at it as a great opportunity to play a Mountain West school, one of those chances that we don't necessarily get every year," Vigen said. "I know we're a couple years removed from (beating) New Mexico, and then a couple years before that playing Wyoming. I guess technically we play North Dakota State next year. So I think that's the big thing for our team, that we get a chance to play a Mountain West school and be measured on a little bigger stage.
"But for our fans, yeah, coach Choate was a very revered coach, and I think he did a lot for Montana State. So, how they feel about him ... I'm sure they have more complex feelings about it than I do. I know he was involved to some degree with the beginning stages of most of our senior group, and then there's a few six-year guys — Titan (Fleischmann), Zack Black, Neil Daily — that he was a part of recruiting.
"So I don't know. It's two separate things, and I think I'm excited that we get that opportunity, and look forward to the matchup."
And it isn't just Choate. There are several members of Choate's staff at Nevada that either coached with him in Bozeman or played at MSU: defensive coordinator and Bobcat hall of famer Kane Ioane, assistant special teams coach B.J. Robertson and secondary coach Joey Thomas are just some of the familiar names.
And it cuts the other way, too. Montana State defensive coordinator Bobby Daly coached under Choate for one season in Bozeman.
Thus, the symbolism and historical connection of the matchup will be impossible to ignore come game week.
Choate injected a certain intensity into Montana State at a time when it needed a reset. Vigen then grabbed that momentum and took the Bobcats to the mountaintop.
To be sure, it'll be a compelling intersection of Montana State's recent past and its illustrious present.