Tag: Minnesota Golden Gophers Football

Wisconsin plays SEC foe in latest USA TODAY bowl projections

Despite losing last Saturday by 21 points to the No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes, the Wisconsin Badgers’ bowl prediction from USA TODAY has not chan…

Despite losing last Saturday by 21 points to the No. 16-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, the Wisconsin Badgers’ bowl prediction from USA TODAY has not changed for this week.

The Badgers are still projected by USA TODAY to play the Missouri Tigers in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn on Dec. 30. Missouri has had a bounce-back season under new head coach Eliah Drinkwitz, including big wins against LSU, Kentucky, and South Carolina. However, Wisconsin is 4-1 in the all-time series with the Tigers, and the Badgers’ only loss came back in 1975 when they lost 21-28 in Columbia, Mo.

Nov 21, 2020; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eliah Drinkwitz discusses a call against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the second quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

The College Football Playoff teams stay the same in this week’s predictions as Ohio State, Alabama, Notre Dame, and Clemson keep their positions.

Despite being 2-3 on the season, Wisconsin has a chance to finish the year at .500 with a win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend. A convincing win by the Badgers would help their chances for a better bowl game, instead of in the Music City Bowl that they are currently projected to play in.

The Big Ten sets kickoff time for Wisconsin’s rivalry matchup with Minnesota

The Badgers and the Gophers will meet in just under two weeks at Camp Randall

Wisconsin and Minnesota are headed in opposite directions halfway through the Big Ten regular season, but the two rivals will meet up in just under two weeks.

The Gophers are traveling to Camp Randall on November 28 for a Thanksgiving weekend battle for the axe.

Wisconsin and Minnesota are now set for a 1 PM CT kickoff in Madison, Wisconsin. The Gophers sit at 1-3 on the year and have a meeting with Purdue before they try and take the axe back. Wisconsin will be looking for their 16th win over Minnesota in the last 17 meetings between the two rivals.

 

Around the Big Ten: Wisconsin Big Ten West foe upset by Maryland

Friday night, the Minnesota Golden Gophers lost in overtime to the Maryland Terrapins 45-44 because of a missed extra point. The matchup…

Friday night, the Minnesota Golden Gophers lost in overtime to the Maryland Terrapins 45-44 because of a missed extra point.

The matchup was a shootout after Maryland initially got up to a 21-7 lead on the Gophers, and was lead by a 394 yard and three touchdown passing day from Terrapins’ quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Tua Tagovailoa. The Maryland quarterback also racked up 59 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

Oct 30, 2020; College Park, Maryland, USA; Maryland Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa (3) throws during the overtime against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Golden Gophers’ running back Mohamed Ibrahim led the team with 207 rushing yards and an impressive four rushing touchdowns. Tanner Morgan continues to look like he has taken a step back from last season, and the quarterback’s numbers show this with only 189 passing yards and a touchdown in the offensive showdown.

Seth Green ran in the touchdown to bring the Golden Gophers one point behind the Terrapins in overtime, but Minnesota kicker Brock Walker swung the extra point wide right to end the game in favor of Maryland.

Oct 30, 2020; College Park, Maryland, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers wide receiver Seth Green (17) scores a touchdown dung overtime against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota sitting at 0-2 to start the season is always good to see for Wisconsin fans and will make the Badger’s path to another Big Ten Championship game a little bit easier.

How to watch: Week two Big Ten matchups

Since the Badgers game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers this Saturday has been canceled because of a rise in positive COVID-19 cases amon..

Since the Badgers game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers this Saturday has been canceled because of a rise in positive COVID-19 cases among Wisconsin players and staff, many Wisconsin fans will have some free time to be able to watch other games around the Big Ten.

Related: How Wisconsin canceling the Nebraska game affects the rest of the season

There will be several exciting matchups around the Big Ten for Wisconsin fans to keep an eye on, especially the game between the number third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the 18th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. An exciting Friday night matchup will be played tonight as well, as Tanner Morgan and the Minnesota Golden Gophers will look to get their season back on track against the Maryland Terrapins.

Both matchups could have huge implications on the Big Ten Championship game, and who Wisconsin could potentially be playing in it.

Here is what the world looked like when Minnesota last beat Wisconsin in the Twin Cities (it has been a long time)

It has been a long time since the Gophers beat the Badgers in the Twin Cities

Sure, Minnesota vs. Wisconsin has been one of the oldest, fiercest rivalries in college football history for the past century. Is it fair to call the 21st century edition of the game a true rivalry though? In this century, Wisconsin has gone 17-3 against the Golden Gophers, and at one point won 14 consecutive games against their arch rival.

Perhaps an even more impressive stat is that UW has won eight consecutive games on Minnesota’s home turf. In fact, it has been nearly 17 years since the Gophers last defeated the Badgers at home. The Badgers have not even played a one possession game at Minnesota since back in 2009 when UW defeated the Gophers 31-28. This two decade run of dominance has also given Wisconsin the all-time series lead back, making up for the old days of Gopher domination in the first half of the 20th century.

So, when was that fateful day when Minnesota last beat Wisconsin at home? November 8, 2003 when the Gophers beat UW 37-34 on a last-second field goal by kicker Rhys Lloyd. Wisconsin’s QB that day was Jim Sorgi who threw for three touchdowns. Led by then-Head Coach Barry Alvarez, the Badgers were underdogs coming in, but hung tough with No. 24 ranked Minnesota all the way down to the final snap. Minnesota found all four of their touchdowns on the ground against Wisconsin’s defense. Oh, how times have changed.

Back on November 8, 2003, the day the Gophers beat the Badgers, George W. Bush was still in his first term as president. The number one song in America was the Beyonce classic “Baby Boy,” featuring Sean Paul of course. The 2003 season also saw the return of the famous Badger football tradition “Jump Around.” According to Wisconsin’s website, there had been fear leading into 2003 about whether or not the jumping was safe for Camp Randall, but ultimately it was deemed safe to continue at the beginning of the 2003 season. The last time Minnesota beat Wisconsin at home, Jonathan Taylor was four years old and a good portion of players from Wisconsin football’s class of 2021 were not born yet.

The most popular phone back then was the Nokia 1100, and if you had bought Apple stock following Minnesota’s win, you would be rich today. Some things never change, however. The best-selling car of the year was the “Mr. Reliable” of automobiles, the Toyota Camry.

It’s safe to say this rivalry has been dominated by Wisconsin over the past pair of decades. Badger fans will hope that even with a newly reinvigorated Minnesota football program, Bucky’s dominance is here to stay.

 

 

 

College Football News Preview 2020: Minnesota Golden Gophers

College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, looking ahead to the Minnesota Golden Gophers season with what you need to know.

College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Minnesota Golden Gophers season with what you need to know.

CFN in 60 Podcast: 2020 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota preview in 60 seconds

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– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Minnesota Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

2019 Record: 11-2 overall, 7-2 in Big Ten
Head Coach: PJ Fleck, 4th year, 23-15
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 8
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 25
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 43

NOTE: Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.

5. College Football News Preview 2020: Minnesota Golden Gophers Offense 3 Things To Know

– The offense was good, efficient, and explosive. This wasn’t the normal Minnesota team with a good running game that was able to control games from time to time. This O was able to throw haymakers and stretch the field.

The Gophers finished sixth in the nation in yards per completion, was fourth in the Big Ten in total offense, and it was still able to stick to the brand finishing fourth in college football in time of possession. With nine starters expected back, expect the machine – no more boat rowing mentions – to be even more productive.

CFN in 60 Video: Minnesota Golden Gophers Preview
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– Joe Burrow, Justin Fields, Jalen Hurts … Tanner Morgan? Those were the four most efficient quarterbacks in the country last year. Not Tua, not Justin Herbert, not Trevor Lawrence – Morgan, was up there with the superstars of superstars, completing 66% of his passes, averaging over ten yards per throw, and hitting 30 touchdown passes with seven picks. He’s got the receiving corps to do it all over again.

Leading receiver Tyler Johnson is off catching passes from Tom Brady at Tampa Bay, but Rashod Bateman is even more dangerous – averaging over 20 yards per catch – and six of the top seven pass catchers overall return. The tight ends – like 6-5, 270-pound junior Jake Paulson – are very big, and so is the physical receiving corps.

– The offensive line was just okay in pass protection, but it was able to pound away for 178 rushing yards per game. 6-6, 325-pound junior Blaise Andries anchors a group that should get back all five starters along with most of the key backups.

Running back Rodney Smith is finally done after seemingly starting out his career in the Joe Salem era, but Mohamed Ibrahim is a more-than-capable No. 1 back who’s ready for an even bigger role. Losing Smith and Shannon Brooks, though, will hurt a bit – more backs have to rise up right away to rotate in with Ibrahim. New star recruit Ky Thomas will get a shot to take on an early role.

NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Minnesota Golden Gophers Defense 3 Things To Know

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

The stats that show how Wisconsin football has dominated Minnesota over the last 20 years

The Badgers have dominated the battle for the axe in recent years, and these stats show it

[lawrence-newsletter][lawrence-auto-related count=2]The Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry feels renewed over the past couple of years. The arrival of new Minnesota Head Coach P.J. Fleck has brought in new life to a Gopher program that was laboring for a pair of decades. Over the past two decades in total, however, it would be hard to call the “battle for the axe” a true battle. While the rivalry and competitiveness is back now, it has not always been there over the past 20 years simply because Wisconsin has dominated on the football field.

College football Twitter account “NCAAF Nation” recently released the stats that back up Wisconsin’s two decades of dominance.

The Badgers 17-3 stretch over the past twenty years of the rivalry has also given UW the all-time lead over Minnesota in a battle that dates back to 1890. Overall, Wisconsin leads the series 61-60-8 (yes, ties used to exist in college football).

After UW had a pair of first-round selections in 2017 with T.J. Watt and Ryan Ramczyk, the Badgers improved their decade total to 13 first round selections. The number of current Badgers in the NFL stands at 37 compared to Minnesota’s 13.

Although Minnesota football is undoubtedly back from mediocrity, Wisconsin has absolutely owned the rivalry at all levels over the past two decades.

 

Wisconsin recruiting comparison: Minnesota

Recruiting versus Minnesota

National Signing Day has come and gone and the Wisconsin Badgers have put together a fairly decent class compared to the rest of the Big Ten. In the spirit of looking at recruiting classes compared to the rest of the conference, Badgers Wire is taking a look at Wisconsin’s class on a national level and a conference level. We’ll be including their national rankings and their conference rankings. Third on our list come the Badgers’ biggest and oldest rivals, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers finished 2020 with the nation’s 37th-best class and the No. 9 class in the Big Ten Conference. 

The Golden Gophers have authored a renaissance under new head coach P.J. Fleck. It has clearly led to on-field improvement and the first season with at least 11 wins for the Gophers since the year of our lord 1904. That’s right. The No. 1 song in the nation the last time the Gophers had an 11-win season before this past year was Cal Stewart’s “Uncle Josh and the Insurance Company.” It’s not exactly the rip-roaring tunes we’re used to hearing today. In fact, it doesn’t even really qualify for music so much as spoken word, which was popular in the era. Fortunately for the Gophers, the players they’ve recruited in 2020 are substantially better than anyone they had on the field in 1904.

The crown jewel of this class was wide receiver Daniel Jackson (.8982), a 5-foot-11, 185-pound burner out of the state of Kansas. Jackson is the state’s second best player and the 51st best receiver in the nation. The Badgers (.8782) have a higher per recruit average than the Gophers (.8580). The Badgers’ best player in 24/7’s composite rankings is offensive tackle Trey Wedig (.9643). The 6-foot-8, 320-pound behemoth is ranked (.0661) higher than Jackson for the Gophers. It improves for the Gophers next year in terms of their overall ranking (No. 14) and conference ranking (No. 5). The Gophers cut into the per-player average .0202 up to .0154, but the Badgers have the sixth-best recruiting class for 2021.

The position both classes compare is at running back. The Badgers signed Jalen Berger (.9378 24/7 composite), a 6-foot, 205-pound player out of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey. He’s the No. 15 player at his position in the nation and the third-best player coming out of New Jersey. The Gophers signed Ky Thomas. At 5-foot-11, and 205-pounds, Thomas (.8863) is the nation’s 28th-best running back and the third-best player in the state of Kansas. Running back is a position Wisconsin needs little help getting going and Fleck’s Gophers have averaged at least an average of 171 yards per game rushing since he took over.

Wisconsin decade in review: Badgers vs Minnesota

Wisconsin vs Minnesota

As the 2019 season brings to a close another decade of college football, Badgers Wire has been engaged in a series of reflective pieces. “Record Review” has examined how the Badgers have fared against the rest of the Big Ten Conference this past decade. The final installment of our 10-part series — which looked at the four best programs in the Big Ten East (Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, and Michigan) plus the entire Big Ten West — is a look at the Badgers’ record against their biggest rival, Minnesota. This is a rivalry that sparks intensity whenever the two programs meet. The Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe is the most played rivalry in Division I college football, with 129 meetings between the two schools. (Lafayette-Lehigh is, of course, not Division I.) That said, nobody would complain if they brought back the Slab of Bacon trophy for one year. 

Using Stassen, Badgers Wire pulled up every result against Minnesota over the past decade, and fans already know the score here. The Badgers have won 9 of 10 meetings, including this year’s meeting that determined the Big Ten West Division winner. Their only loss was 2018. In terms of success against a rival, it doesn’t get much better than what Wisconsin is doing here. The average margin of victory by Wisconsin is 31-18. It’s really hard to do much better for the Badgers against the Golden Gophers. 

There’s no need to speak at great length about the importance of this game. Everyone in both states knows what it means. Someone has to win this game to be considered a coach worth keeping at either program. To put a fine point on just how fiercely fought this series has been, Wisconsin holds the edge in the all-time head-to-head by one win, 61-60-8. That’s how tight the series is overall. Imagine playing in college football’s most played Division I rivalry for well over a century and nearly splitting all games 50-50. This game matters. This is the only game that matters during the week it is played. 

The Badgers don’t need to adjust a whole lot going forward. There’s no need to talk about their toughest loss in the series this past decade because they only have one loss, period. As far as they’re concerned, they won the biggest game that mattered between these two teams, the 2019 game a month ago, and it wasn’t particularly close. The game they won decided the West. 

With P.J. Fleck at Minnesota, it seems quite unlikely that this will be the only time these two coaching staffs (Fleck and Paul Chryst) meet with the division on the line. Minnesota is on the way up, but if Wisconsin — in the 2020s — can keep doing what it did in the 2010s, the highest Minnesota can go in the Big Ten West is second place. The Badgers will keep making the trip to Indianapolis, thank you very much.

PJ Fleck loses key “oarsman” Kirk Ciarrocca at Minnesota

Kirk Ciarrocca leaves PJ Fleck, creating uncertainty in Minnesota

The Wisconsin Badgers woke up on the feast of Stephen and noticed that the Minnesota Golden Gophers — who will try to spend the 2020s bumping the Badgers off their perch atop the Big Ten West — don’t have an offensive coordinator for the time being. Kirk Ciarrocca, who has been with P.J. Fleck at Western Michigan and Minnesota, left the Gophers to join James Franklin at Penn State.

Coaching moves aren’t guaranteed to succeed or fail, but on the surface of things, the fact that Fleck will have to change coordinators after several years with a trusted lieutenant seems suboptimal for the Gophers. More than the loss of continuity on his staff, though, Fleck has to deal with the reality that Ciarrocca generally developed wide receivers:

The Badgers saw Ciarrocca’s offense before Ciarrocca went to Minnesota. Wisconsin played — and contained — Ciarrocca’s offense in the 2017 Cotton Bowl when P.J. Fleck was at Western Michigan. Watching Ciarrocca stay in the Big Ten Conference is not a good thing for Wisconsin. Watching Ciarrocca leave the Big Ten West, however, is definitely a good thing for the Badgers. Minnesota needs every ounce of leverage it can get in its burgeoning battle with the Badgers for Big Ten West supremacy. Maybe Fleck will somehow find a coordinator on par with Ciarrocca. Yet, given how successful Fleck has been the past several years with Ciarrocca by his side, this surely isn’t what Fleck had in mind for his offseason. It is not what he planned or hoped for.

Could Fleck successfully adjust? If he is the caliber of coach many people think he is, he will… but we don’t know just how good Fleck is. We are only beginning to get a fuller measure of him, and given how thoroughly he got schooled by Jim Leonhard and Paul Chryst a month ago, anything which disrupts Minnesota’s momentum is a genuine threat to a sustained Fleck ascendance in Minneapolis. Stay tuned for Minnesota’s hire of a replacement for Kirk Ciarrocca. The Big Ten coaching carousel season just became a lot more interesting.