2021 Montana State Bobcats football team

The 2021 Montana State Bobcats football team represents Montana State University as a member of the a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bobcats are led by first-year head coach Brent Vigen and play their home games at Bobcat Stadium.

2021 Montana State Bobcats football
ConferenceBig Sky Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 7
FCS CoachesNo. 9
2021 record11–2 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorTaylor Housewright (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorFreddie Banks (1st season)
Home stadiumBobcat Stadium
(capacity: 17,777)
2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 8 Sacramento State $^  8 –0   9 –3  
No. 7 Montana State ^  7 –1   11 –2  
No. 4 Eastern Washington ^  6 –2   10 –3  
No. 5 Montana ^  6 –2   10 –3  
No. 14 UC Davis ^  5 –3   8 –4  
Weber State  5 –3   6 –5  
Northern Arizona  4 –4   5 –6  
Portland State  4 –4   5 –6  
Idaho  3 –5   4 –7  
Northern Colorado  2 –6   3 –8  
Cal Poly  1 –7   2 –9  
Idaho State  1 –7   1 –10  
Southern Utah  0 –8   1 –10  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
As of December 14, 2021; Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Bobcats finished the 2019 season 11–4, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they defeated Albany in the second round and Austin Peay in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to North Dakota State. The Bobcats were opt out in the 2020 fall season and 2021 spring season.

Preseason

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Bobcats were predicted to finish fourth in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Weber State (7)
2 Montana (3)
3 Eastern Washington (2)
4 Montana State (1)
5 Sacramento State (1)
6 UC Davis
7 Northern Arizona
8 Idaho
9 Idaho State
10 Portland State
11 Southern Utah
12 Cal Poly
13 Northern Colorado
Media poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Weber State (14)
2 Montana (4)
3 Eastern Washington (3)
4 Montana State (3)
5 Sacramento State
6 UC Davis
7 Northern Arizona
8 Idaho
9 Idaho State
10 Portland State
11 Southern Utah
12 Northern Colroado
13 Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Bobcats had two players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 42:00 p.m.at Wyoming*No. 12
ESPN+L 16–1930,007
September 116:00 p.m.Drake*No. 11
SWXW 45–719,797
September 181:00 p.m.San Diego*No. 13
  • Bobcat Stadium
  • Bozeman, MT
SWXW 52–1019,107
September 253:05 p.m.at Portland StateNo. 13
W 30–17  4,095
October 21:05 p.m.Northern ColoradoNo. 11
  • Bobcat Stadium
  • Bozeman, MT
SWXW 40–720,127
October 92:00 p.m.Cal PolyNo. 10
  • Bobcat Stadium
  • Bozeman, MT
RTNWW 45–719,847
October 158:00 p.m.at No. 19 Weber StateNo. 9
ESPNUW 13–7  6,323
October 231:00 p.m.Idaho StateNo. 8
  • Bobcat Stadium
  • Bozeman, MT
SWXW 27–919,297
November 62:00 p.m.at No. 5 Eastern WashingtonNo. 4
SWXW 23–20  6,981
November 131:00 p.m.IdahoNo. 3
  • Bobcat Stadium
  • Bozeman, MT
SWXW 20–1319,447
November 2012:00 p.m.at No. 7 MontanaNo. 3
RTNWL 10–2926,856
December 42:00 p.m.No. 16 UT Martin*No. 7
ESPN+W 26–715,237
December 116:30 p.m.at No. 1 Sam Houston State*No. 7
ESPN+W 42–19
December 1812:00 p.m.No. 11 South Dakota State*No. 7
ESPN2
Source:[2]

Game summaries

at Wyoming
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 12 Bobcats 7 0 0 9 16
Cowboys 0 3 0 16 19
See also: 2021 Wyoming Cowboys football team

Drake
1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 0 7 0 0 7
No. 11 Bobcats 9 15 7 14 45
See also: 2021 Drake Bulldogs football team

San Diego
1 2 3 4 Total
Toreros 0 0 7 3 10
No. 13 Bobcats 21 14 10 7 52
See also: 2021 San Diego Toreros football team

at Portland State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 13 Bobcats 3 6 14 7 30
Vikings 10 0 7 0 17
See also: 2021 Portland State Vikings football team

Northern Colorado
1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 0 7 0 0 7
No. 11 Bobcats 17 10 13 0 40
See also: 2021 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Cal Poly
1 2 3 4 Total
Mustangs 0 0 7 0 7
No. 10 Bobcats 7 28 7 3 45
See also: 2021 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

at No. 19 Weber State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 9 Bobcats 7 0 6 0 13
No. 19 Wildcats 7 0 0 0 7
See also: 2021 Weber State Wildcats football team

Idaho State
1 2 3 4 Total
Bengals 3 0 3 3 9
No. 8 Bobcats 0 10 3 14 27
See also: 2021 Idaho State Bengals football team

at Eastern Washington
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 4 Bobcats 7 9 0 7 23
No. 5 Eagles 13 0 0 7 20
See also: 2021 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Idaho
1 2 3 4 Total
Vandals 0 10 3 0 13
No. 3 Bobcats 7 6 0 7 20
See also: 2021 Idaho Vandals football team

at No. 7 Montana
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 3 Bobcats 3 0 0 7 10
No. 7 Grizzlies 10 6 10 3 29
See also: 2021 Montana Grizzlies football team and Brawl of the Wild

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 12 11 13 13 11 10 9 8 6 4 3 3 7  
Coaches 11 13 13 12 12 11 9 8 6 4 3 3 (1) 9

References
  1. "Bobcats Land Andersen, Tuiasosopo on Preseason All-Big Sky Team, While Coaches, Media Pick MSU Fourth in Preseason Polls". July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  2. "2021 Montana State Football Schedule". msubobcats.com. Retrieved July 28, 2021.


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