Yes, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are probably going to be very formidable in the coming decade. If you asked me, I would bet that as long as P.J. Fleck stays in Minneapolis, Minnesota will be the annual contender in the Big Ten West the Wisconsin Badgers haven’t yet faced.
Let’s keep this point in mind about Wisconsin’s history in the Big Ten since the conference went to a divisional format: The Badgers have not had an opponent which could consistently stand up to UW. This is a point of pride for Wisconsin football and everyone associated with it. However, nothing lasts forever. A rival is going to emerge at some point. It doesn’t mean Minnesota WILL be that rival, but Fleck certainly shows signs of being the coach — and creating the program — which will challenge Wisconsin at a higher level.
More on Wisconsin’s dominance in the Big Ten West: The Badgers — in nine seasons of Big Ten divisional play — have made six Big Ten Championship Game appearances. Wisconsin is fortunate that the Legends-and-Leaders format was changed to the East-West configuration. Ohio State was in the Leaders Division with Wisconsin from 2011 through 2013. You know that 2011 was the Luke Fickell season when Ohio State was a mess. You know that in 2012, Ohio State went unbeaten but was ineligible for the postseason. The Ohio State engine has roared to five Big Ten Championship Game appearances in the past seven seasons, four of those appearances coming as a member of the East Division. The Badgers are glad to be on the other side in the West… and they have certainly taken advantage of it.
The other detail which has to be noted: The other members of the West — despite not having to play Ohio State and Michigan AND Penn State AND Michigan State on an annual basis — have not taken advantage. Wisconsin has pounced on this opportunity. The rest of the West has not.
In six years of East-West Division football in the Big Ten, Wisconsin has made four Big Ten title games, including this upcoming 2019 edition. Iowa has made only one showing in Indianapolis. The same is true for Northwestern. Nebraska made one Big Ten title game from the Legends Division in 2012, but none as a West Division member. It is striking that we are sitting here in 2019, at the end of the decade, and Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Ohio State are the ONLY Big Ten programs to make more than one appearance in Indianapolis in December. The only three.
At some point, someone — probably — will challenge Wisconsin in the West, but it hasn’t happened yet. So, with this in mind, one has to ask the question: Will 2019 Minnesota become a team akin to 2015 Iowa, which had everything break just right in one season and then didn’t have another big season in store the next year? It’s not a ludicrous question to ask with Minnesota. We saw the Golden Gophers score lucky, close, tenuous wins over South Dakota State, Fresno State, and other not-that-great teams early in the 2019 season. Imagine if those games had broken the wrong way. There probably would have been no stratospheric rise for Fleck’s Folks.
Yes, I do reiterate that I think Minnesota will probably become an annual challenger to Wisconsin. I think Fleck keeps proving himself in ways that are hard to ignore, and he will be bringing in his own recruiting classes. Nevertheless, one can make a convincing case that 2019 was Minnesota’s big chance to seize momentum… and Wisconsin knocked the Gophers off the train tracks. Moreover, consider this: Wisconsin had a banged-up defense and was playing Minnesota on the road… and won big. Next year, the Gophers come to Madison, and they will not be able to sneak up on UW the way they did in 2018. Wisconsin will know, entering 2020, that Minnesota is the main target in the Big Ten West.
Did Wisconsin punch Minnesota into irrelevance this past weekend? Probably not… but it’s certainly possible. Just ask 2015 Iowa, and just look at how Nebraska has never been able to settle into its Big Ten home.