You can almost smell it in the air. The annual "BRAWL OF THE WILD" will soon be here. A rivalry that is one of the oldest in all of college football. A football game that has been going on for over 120 years. The meeting between the Montana Grizzlies and the Montana State University Bobcats. This year's contest will be easy to remember because it's going to be covered on ESPN's College GameDay.

Recently, some cool photos surfaced online of a Griz/Cat game that took place 72 years ago, qhich looked a lot different than what we are used to today. As in tradition, we currently go back and forth each year on home-field advantage. 2020 would have been Montana's turn to host the rivalry. But, since the game was canceled, the game was held in Missoula in 2021. This year it will be held in Bozeman. But, according to the photos online, this rivalry game took place at Naranche Stadium in Butte, Montana. In fact, from 1929 until 1951, the annual rivalry met in Butte.

The photos show an old program from the game that took place in 1949.

According to the Facebook post from Bob McCue

My Dad transferred to the UofM to play football and attend college in 1948. He played for the 1948 &1949 Grizzly Football team. The old game programs are a real hoot to look through.

The players are wearing plastic helmets. Which were fairly new at the time.

According to Wikipedia

They were not mandatory piece of equipment in college gridiron until 1939. The first plastic football helmet came in 1940. It was invented and patented by John T. Riddell and his son John T. Riddell Jr. The single molded shell was stronger, lighter, longer-lasting, and did not rot the way leather does when damp.

The program also featured cigarette advertising with spokesmen like Bing Crosby and Perry Como.

Not to mention the results of Grizzly football seasons dating back to 1933.

Pretty cool to look back in time and see that the annual meeting of the Grizzlies and Bobcats was just as beloved then as it is today.

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