BOZEMAN — In Montana State's 55-17 win over Northern Colorado on Oct. 5, the program honored the 1984 national championship team during the second quarter of the game.
Over 60 members from the team came back to relive the glory of their run 40 years ago in front of Bobcat Nation.
But, who their homecoming inspired most might have been the current Montana State team, which is currently sitting at 8-0 going into its bye week.
"The thing that always sticks out to me when I’m watching the replays or the highlights from that season is everybody celebrating together," Montana State linebacker McCade O'Reilly said. "I mean, you can just tell when you’re watching that team that they’re a really tight-knit group. You know, one person makes a play, and five of them are jumping in the snow bank. One of them makes a big hit or a fumble recovery, and they’re all jumping up and down like crazy. I’ve never even seen anyone celebrate like that."
The 1984 team was not only honored during the game. They also spent Friday’s practice the day before with the current team.
"They’re the team that we’re striving to be like," Montana State wide receiver Ty McCullouch said. "When they brought them out on the field, I looked to the guys on the field, I said, 'That’s going to be us in 39 years.'"
"That’s obviously a piece of history, a piece of greatness right there," Montana State defensive tackle Alec Eckert said. "And that’s what we’re chasing. We’re trying to be the '2024' team. That’s what we want. We want our flag up there, too. That was pretty sweet to have them all out there."
McCullouch and Eckert spoke to Montana State coach Brent Vigen’s hope: that the 1984 team would provide inspiration to his group.
Vigen expanded on his philosophy behind what makes championship teams unique, and how to instill that type of work ethic in a culture.
"My message to the guys was, they aren’t special because they won," he began. "They won because they’re special, and that’s what we’re trying to become, a special team. And a special team is willing to do the little things, the dirty work, all of that."
The 1984 team reminded them of their legacy that lives on 40 years removed and what being a Bobcat means to them, but the focus remains centered on the day to day for this current squad.
That mentality has proven successful through the first eight games, as the team works to keep building on that success in this latter half of the season.
"You set goals every year, and you want to achieve those, but I feel like we did that too much last year," McCullouch said. "So honing in on that 1-0 mentality this year, it’s kept us centered. I feel like we’re not too cocky. We’re just confident."
