NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The time for talk is over.
There's just over 24 hours until second-seeded Montana State faces Illinois State in the FCS championship at FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time.
The Bobcats, of course, are making a consecutive appearance in the title game and their third trip to the championship in the past five seasons under head coach Brent Vigen.
Meanwhile, the unseeded Redbirds have been the definition of a road warrior this postseason, winning four straight away games in the playoffs to set up the first-ever meeting between Illinois State and MSU.
HEAR FROM THE BOBCATS:
From navigating their sprawling team hotel at the Gaylord Opryland Resort to all the hype and chatter surrounding this impending championship, there are plenty of distractions out there. But the Bobcats are bringing a determined focus into this game as they look to bring a championship to Bozeman for the first time since 1984.
"There's a lot of stuff going on now this weekend, but at the end of the day we're here to win a football game," said senior defensive lineman Kenneth Eiden. "We're here to go play for a championship."
The Bobcats are riding a 13-game winning streak, while Illinois State was routed by Southern Illinois 37-7 in the regular-season finale before putting together a remarkable playoff run that saw the Redbirds shock top-seeded defending champion North Dakota State in the second round.
"They're definitely a great team, you see a lot about them having a lot of seniors and that shows with how they play," said junior linebacker Neil Daily. "They're just really good at what they do and they don't mess up, and it's one of those things if we go out and try to play their game, it's going to be tough. We just got to do what we do and we'll have a good one in the end."
There were a lot of questions for this team after graduating a cohort of starting senior talent last season and dropping their first two games to start this campaign. But the Bobcats figured things out, and Stanford transfer quarterback Justin Lamson emerged as a solid signal caller and worthy successor to Tommy Mellott for this team.
"It's been awesome," said Lamson. "Last year at this time I didn't really know what was next for me, so I'm very fortunate to be in this position. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm thankful to coach Vigen and these guys for accepting me."
The Bobcats now have one game standing between them and ending a four-decade championship drought for this program.
"We've played football since we were little kids for moments like this," said Lamson.
