Diggers, Dawgs to open 2025 Montana College Football Season Tonight in Butte

The leaves are turning, there is a bit of a chill in the morning air and tonight, even though our calendars have not yet turned to September, it may as well be late fall as the Montana Tech Orediggers and Montana-Western Bulldogs open the 2025 college football season at 6:05pm at Bob Green Field on the campus of Montana Tech.  Yes, it's the first game of the year but expectations are high for both teams as both were qualifiers for the national playoffs last year and have a ton of talent returning this year.  Montana Tech comes into the contest ranked #11 in the preseason poll while Montana Western is the fifth ranked team in the country.

2025 NAIA Football Preseason Coaches' Poll

Poll Methodology: 

• The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
• A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
• The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system:
  • 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
• The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
• Teams receiving only one point are not listed as "receiving votes."
• For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.

Although only 60 miles separate the two schools, this contest will not count in conference standings as with this year's expansion the Orediggers are members of the Frontier Conference Eastern Division while the Bulldogs represent the Western Division.  Nonetheless, a huge rivalry remains and a big crowd is expected.

Tickets are available here.