The 1986 Montana State Bobcats football team was an American football team that represented Montana State University in the Big Sky Conference (Big Sky) during the 1986 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their fourth and final season under head coach Dave Arnold, the Bobcats compiled a 3–8 record (2–5 against Big Sky opponents) and tied for sixth out of eight teams in the Big Sky.^[1]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	at Fresno State*	Bulldog Stadium Fresno, CA	L 2–55	34,512	[2]
September 13	at Sam Houston State*	Bowers Stadium Huntsville, TX	L 6–23	11,500	[3]
September 20	Idaho State	Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	W 50–27	8,277	[4]
September 27	No. 1 Nevada	Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	L 10–61	11,637	[5]
October 4	Boise State	Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	L 14–31	7,027	[6]
October 11	at Weber State	Wildcat Stadium Ogden, UT	L 3–24	8,102	[7]
October 18	Northern Arizona	Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	W 27–19	10,497	[8]
October 25	at Montana	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry)	L 28–59	13,362	[9]
November 1	Northern Iowa*	Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	W 46–25	5,227	[10]
November 8	at Idaho	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	L 17–44	8,200	[11]
November 15	at Eastern Washington	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA	L 14–27	1,838	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee Poll released prior to the game