History will be made on Monday night in the Music City.
Monday night will be a historical one for the FCS on many fronts. For the first time ever, the national title game will take place in Nashville with 2-seed Montana State squaring off with Illinois State for all the marbles. The championship has not been played in the state of Tennessee since 2009 when Montana and Villanova dueled in Chattanooga. Beyond a location, though, the contest will see several noteworthy marks.
For instance, the Bobcats and the Redbirds have never met on the football field before but will on Monday. Brock Spack and Brent Vigen have stood on opposite sidelines but never before when both were head coaches. Both men have coached in this game before but neither has ever won it. Across the board there will be history made when the ball kicks off in this one. But what’s at stake for each team?
Here’s what happens if either team wins it
If Illinois State Wins
The Redbirds have only participated in one other national championship game, losing a tight one to North Dakota State to conclude the 2014 season. That, of course, means that ISU would claim its first national title with a victory over MSU here. It would also be the 16th time that a Missouri Valley team has taken home the trophy and the fifth time one has done so over a Big Sky opponent. Spack, who has been the head man with Illinois State since 2009, would also receive his first championship.
As far as the school as a whole is concerned, it would be the university’s first claimed championship in any sport since the baseball program took home the 1969 Division II national title and only their second ever. ISU would also become the 24th different FCS program to win a title since the subdivision formed in 1978. They would become the fourth different MVFC team to do so as well joining North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Youngstown State.
If Montana State Wins
The Bobcats have not hoisted the trophy since 1984 and that year was their only Division I title. Montana State, though, has won three national championships all at varying classifications. In fact, MSU… also winners of the 1956 NAIA championship and 1976 Division II championship… is the only program in the country to win three titles at three different levels of the sport. A win on Monday, though, would have the ‘Cats join the likes of Appalachian State, Eastern Kentucky, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Marshall, Montana, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Youngstown State as programs to win multiple FCS championships.
It would also be the fourth national championship ring that Vigen would have on his mantle but his first as a head coach. Vigen won three while on the staff at North Dakota State from 2011 to 2013 and has reached the game two other times while leading MSU. He has yet to win it all, though. Doing so would have him join a small crowd consisting of just Tim Polasek and Mike London as the only active FCS head coaches to win a championship.
A Bobcats win would also secure the first football championship for the Big Sky Conference since Eastern Washington won it all back in 2010. Since then, four other Big Sky teams have reached the title game but none have been able to win it. The conference would get its seventh national champion if Montana State is able to come out victorious.
Category: General Sports
