The Brawl of the Wild Breakdown Part 2: The Bobcat Defense
In the Brawl of the Wild Part 2, the Montana State defense was the headliner. Were they perfect? No. Did they own the middle eight? Not really. But they did control the rest of the game, and that is what mattered most.
They shut out Montana in the 1st and 4th quarters, and they played with the kind of physical, disciplined edge you expect from a group that has been here before. That effort helped punch Montana State’s ticket to its second national title berth in as many years.
In Part 2 of this series, we’re going defense first. We’ll break down what the Bobcats did well, how they won up front, and where the key stops showed up when the game tightened.
Fitting the Run
It always starts here. If you can fit the run with discipline, everything else gets easier. Montana is built to lean on split zone, lock, and the complementary RPO world off it, so Montana State’s first job was to make those schemes feel heavy.
And outside of a few creases, the Bobcats did exactly that. They were physical at the point of attack, tight with their fits, and they tackled like a defense that knew the game was going to come down to who could win the early downs.
Let’s get into the clips.
Montana State is a pretty standard 4-3 / 4-2-5 outfit on paper, but the difference is how clean their fits are when the picture gets muddy. This rep is a great example.
Montana gives them a long trap variation, or at least it plays like long trap. The Bobcats handle it with textbook layering from the box all the way to the sideline.
It starts inside with a “TAM” stunt from the 3-tech. He beats the guard and immediately makes the interior feel unstable. That forces the ball to declare early. Then the defensive end does his job and squeezes hard, knocking the tackle off his track and spilling the run outside.
Now it is on the perimeter to finish it. The Sam, the overhang, fits the edge but gets cracked by the slot, so the ball has to bounce again. This is where the alley player earns his money. The safety triggers downhill, stays clean, does not let himself get cracked by the outside receiver, and makes the tackle.
If you want to live in a two-high world, your fits have to stack like that. D line spills it, overhang forces it, safety closes it, and the corner is right there replacing the second crack attempt outside. That is how you play “spill to the sideline” in a 4-3 / 4-2-5 structure.
Montana tried to get into a Wildcat Power Read here, and Montana State is clearly ready for it. This showed up on film, and the Bobcats treat it like they have already seen the answers.
The key is the edge. The defensive end surfs and squeezes, which forces the give read. That is not an accident. It is a clear “make someone else carry it” plan because #6 is a problem in space. So they take the keep away and live with the give.
Then the nickel shows up like a missile. He triggers downhill, cuts off the edge, and takes out two blockers by himself. That compresses the run lane immediately and turns a concept built for space into a pile of bodies.
From there, the Mike and the defensive end, who squeezes then redirects, rally to the ball carrier and finish it for a TFL. That is preparation meeting execution. The Bobcats knew what was coming, played it the way they wanted, and shut it down early.
