Wisconsin defeated rival Minnesota 28-14 Saturday to reclaim Paul Bunyan’s Axe, finish the regular season 7-5 and carry positive momentum into bowl season.
After what has been a disappointing year one under Luke Fickell, Saturday represented a step in the right direction with this season winding down.
That, and it was the team’s best all-around effort of the year by a long shot. The offense found success through the air and on the ground, Braelon Allen was terrific and the defense shut down Athan Kaliakmanis and the Minnesota offense. In many ways, Saturday’s performance was what we expected to see all year from Fickell’s team.
Nevertheless, escaping a year with a win over Minnesota makes the early-season struggles feel much better. Especially given this was the Badgers’ first road win over Minnesota since 2019, and the first win over the Golden Gophers since 2020.
The postgame celebration was expectedly quite rowdy:
Paul Bunyan’s Axe is heading back to Madison! 🪓 pic.twitter.com/vjhruqICX7
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 26, 2023
Wisconsin legend James White, now an analyst on Big Ten Network, did have one critique of that celebration, however:
"We got to work on that Axe-chopping." 🤣
James White wants to see some harder chops next time Wisconsin celebrates with Paul Bunyan's Axe. 🪓@SweetFeet_White x @BadgerFootball pic.twitter.com/TMGmXCDyzV
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 26, 2023
White went 4-0 against Minnesota during his time in Madison. He is more than qualified to take a sarcastic shot at the Badgers’ chopping mechanics.
If that’s the conversation postgame, it means the four quarters of football went pretty well.