This past season, the Wisconsin Badgers carried two losses into a late-November game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Minneapolis. A win would enable the Badgers to carry an especially powerful and sweet memory from the season, giving players and coaches a moment they would savor for the rest of their lives. Achieving that victory did indeed transform how the 2019 Badgers will be remembered.
The same was true for the 2013 team, which also took two losses into Minneapolis for a late-November battle with the Gophers. What was different about the 2013 team is that in the Big Ten’s Legends and Leaders Division setup, Wisconsin was not going to make the Big Ten Championship Game. The Badgers had been eliminated from that race. However, much of the other details were the same. A win against a good Minnesota team — the 2013 Gophers were 8-2 entering play on Nov. 23 of that year — would enable Wisconsin to not only keep Paul Bunyan’s Axe for yet another season; it would show that under first-year coach Gary Andersen, the momentum and identity of the program would remain just as Barry Alvarez and the fan base wanted. Wisconsin wasn’t playing for a division title, unlike 2019, but the stakes were still high for all the reasons mentioned above… and because Minnesota needed to be put in its place, just as it always needs to be for any good Badger.
The 2019 win in Minnesota featured a very strong defensive performance from the Badgers, but in 2013, the Wisconsin defense was even better. Chris Borland recovered two fumbles and forced a third. The Badgers’ defense shut out the Minnesota offense. The Gophers’ only score — their only points on that day — came from a pick-six of UW quarterback Joel Stave.
Borland’s remarkable day wasn’t confined to recovering or forcing fumbles, either (though he did tie the FBS record for the most forced fumbles in a college football career). The elite linebacker recorded 12 tackles, flying all over the field to stop Minnesota at every turn. Brendan Kelly joined Borland in the defensive feast by recording two sacks.
When it was all over, Wisconsin had forced three Gopher turnovers and limited Minnesota to just 185 yards. Stave threw for only 127 yards for Wisconsin, and the Badgers managed only 324 total yards… but it was way more than enough with Borland and his teammates pitching a shutout. Wisconsin’s identity did not change — and the level of the product did not (significantly) decrease — under a new coach, which is one of the cornerstones of this remarkable 30-year period of Badger football. The torch keeps getting passed, and the next coach in the sequence keeps the train rolling. Such was the importance of the win over Minnesota in 2013.