BOZEMAN — For what it’s worth, today’s annual “Brawl of the Wild” rivalry football game between the University of Montana and Montana State University pits the Big Sky Conference’s top ranked rushing offense against the top ranked rush defense.

If the last decade of Cat-Griz games may provide a lesson, though ... that doesn’t mean much.

UM has won 20 of the last 23 matchups and leads the all-time series, which began in 1897, by a tally of 68-35-5.

Yet, all three of those Bobcat wins — the most recent coming in 2005 — have come in the past seven years as MSU shook off long odds each time.

The Grizzlies (10-0, 7-0 Big Sky) enter today’s tilt heavily favored yet again with a No. 1 national ranking, and having already clinched the conference’s automatic bid in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

The Bobcats (7-3, 5-2) just re-entered the polls this week at No. 23 after three straight wins, but need another upset to stay alive for an at-large berth in the FCS playoffs.

Eastern Washington and Weber State each have two conference losses entering today’s games and are battling for a bid. The 16-team field will be announced on Sunday.

Several online betting Web sites had the Griz favored by 5 1/2 points as of Friday.

Not that UM head coach Bobby Hauck has heard anything about that.

“I shut my phone off for the most part (during Cat-Griz week), and I advise the guys to do the same,” said Hauck, who is notorious for isolating his team prior to the MSU game. “I’m related to everybody in the state, so I get a lot of ticket requests for this one.”

Senior tailback Chase Reynolds is the workhorse of the Griz’s Big Sky-leading rushing attack, and is averaging 109.6 of his team’s 181.4 yards per game on the ground, while also piling up 15 touchdowns.

Senior wideout Marc Mariani is the team’s other big-play threat, leading the league with 91.7 yards per game.

“He’s just good with the football,” Hauck said. “He has good football instincts on where everybody else is on the field and really uses his awareness of that.”

Hauck has maintained a two-quarterback system throughout the year, and juniors Andrew Selle and Justin Roper are again expected to split snaps.

“They both deserve to start,” Hauck said. “We don’t have a clear cut starter and backup. They’ve both worked and both deserve it, so it’s just what we’ve done.”

MSU will counter with the league’s top rush defense, led in their recent victories by the return of senior defensive end Dane Fletcher and senior outside linebacker Mark Price.

The Bobcats have allowed just 81.2 yards per contest on the ground, but will be playing without sophomore inside linebacker, leading tackler and Capital graduate Clay Bignell.

The Grizzlies have been stout themselves on defense this season, allowing a league-low 17.8 points per game and finishing in second behind MSU in total defense and rushing defense.

Senior linebacker Shawn Lebsock leads Montana with seven tackles per contest.

MSU recently cleared up their own two-man race at the quarterback position, as junior Oregon transfer Cody Kempt took every snap in last week’s 27-17 win over Sacramento State.

“To me, the most remarkable thing was how he was always ready when he walked on the field,” Ash said. “When he stepped out there, he just made it impossible for us to put him back on sideline as a backup again.”

Freshman Everett Gilbert also had a breakthrough performance last week, scoring twice and racking up 205 all-purpose yards as Ash found a variety of ways to get him the ball in space.

“It’s a great combination to have a guy who’s not just a straight-ahead fast guy, but somebody who can juke a little bit,” Ash said of Gilbert. “We’ve asked him to do a lot of things, we’ve tried to put him in different positions, asked him to run different motion and given him the ball in different ways. He’s shown he can handle it.”

Senior tailback Aaron Mason has also been steady for MSU when healthy, averaging a team-high 70.9 yards per game with five touchdowns.