Tag: Minnesota Golden Gophers Football

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.

No one except for Gary Andersen and his inner circle knew this would be Andersen’s last home game as the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. The school and the football program did not know they would be searching for another head coach so soon. No one in college football expected the bloodbath which was about to happen in the 2014 Big Ten Championship Game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. It was a simpler time for Wisconsin before that disaster in Indianapolis.

Indeed, before a month of profound upheaval, the 2014 Wisconsin team created its best regular-season moment. The 2015 Outback Bowl was the best moment associated with that 2014 team, but the crowning regular-season experience was the game against Minnesota for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

Unlike 2013 — and like 2019 — this was a division championship game against the Golden Gophers. Wisconsin entered this game 6-1 in Big Ten play (remember that the league didn’t play nine conference games at the time — that would come later), while Minnesota was 5-2. Nebraska finished 5-3 in the conference. This was the first year in which the Big Ten used its East and West Division alignment, a switch from the Legends and Leaders configuration of the previous three years. This switch liberated Wisconsin from Ohio State, and so in this 2014 season without the Buckeyes to worry about, it was important for every Big Ten West contender to announce itself as the program to beat in the division.

Wisconsin made the loudest and most effective statement against Minnesota, and the Badgers haven’t looked back since. They have won four of the six Big Ten West races and lead all Big Ten teams with six conference championship game berths, which is more than Ohio State’s five. The 2014 win over Minnesota was part of that process of becoming the most regular visitor to Indianapolis in early December.

It wasn’t easy.

Wisconsin stumbled out of bed and forgot to set its alarm clock. The Badgers fell behind 17-3 midway through the second quarter, gifting Minnesota short fields and exhibiting no cohesion on offense. Badger drives went three-and-out deep in their own end of the field. Mediocre punts set up the Gophers in great field position. Minnesota gained a 17-3 lead by scoring three separate times on drives no longer than 40 yards. A fumbled punt contributed to the tidal wave of mistakes which created a 14-point deficit. Could Wisconsin dig out of this “Gopher Hole”?

The answer came convincingly in the final two and a half quarters.

Wisconsin was able to shave 10 points off that deficit before halftime, calming nerves throughout Camp Randall Stadium with the Gophers leading 17-13 at the intermission. The comeback required the offense’s participation, and to be sure, the offense did its job. The 10-point rally late in the second quarter helped a lot. Corey Clement then scored on a 28-yard touchdown run to give Wisconsin the lead in the third quarter, 20-17. However, the comeback was piloted mostly by a defense which was placed in impossible situations in the first 20 minutes. When Minnesota no longer started drives in plus territory, the Gophers were stymied by the Badgers’ defense.

After Minnesota took that 17-3 lead, the Gophers gained a grand total of 82 yards on their next five possessions, one of which ended in a lost fumble. All these empty and brief possessions left the Minnesota defense tired against Clement, Melvin Gordon, and the rest of the Wisconsin offense.

Down 27-17 in the fourth quarter, Minnesota did scramble back to score a touchdown and create some tension in Camp Randall. Wisconsin led, 27-24. However, the cumulative effects of staying on the field for most of the previous two quarters caught up with the Gophers’ defense on UW’s next drive. Wisconsin marched 75 yards in six plays, never facing a third down. Wisconsin faced second and three, second and four, and then second and one on its easiest touchdown drive of the night. Joel Stave hit Robert Wheelwright on a 17-yard scoring pass with 4:41 to deliver the dagger.

Wisconsin 34, Minnesota 24. The Badgers won their 11th straight game against Minnesota, kept the Axe, and march on to Indianapolis.

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.

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.

The 2010s are about to end. There is only one more Big Ten football game to be played in this decade, and it will be played by the two best Big Ten programs in that decade. The Wisconsin Badgers and the Ohio State Buckeyes have made the most appearances in the Big Ten Championship Game since the event began in 2011. Wisconsin will make its sixth appearance in Indianapolis this weekend, Ohio State its fifth. As one decade ends and another one begins, one must ask: What are the biggest and most important questions surrounding Big Ten football this decade?

We will tackle this question more as this month of December continues at Badgers Wire, but for now, let’s acknowledge this point: The evolution of the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry is certainly one of the more fascinating and significant aspects of Big Ten football in the 2020s. That claim might not be greeted with universal agreement, but it is hard to displace from a top five list of important questions in the next decade of Big Ten football.

Consider, first, how stuck Nebraska currently is. The Huskers might get going eventually under Scott Frost, but it is just as evident that if Nebraska DOES improve, the process will not be immediate. Nebraska, at the end of the 2020 Big Ten season, will not be where Minnesota and P.J. Fleck are now… or at least, if the Cornhuskers do make that great leap, it will rate as one of the most remarkable turnarounds we have seen in the Big Ten. (Yes, more than Northwestern’s run to the division title last season.)

When Nebraska joined the Big Ten, many people in this conference wondered when the Cornhuskers would regain their top-tier status in college football. When the Big Ten moved from the Legends and Leaders divisional format to the East-West configuration we have now, Nebraska was the obvious team identified as a possible long-term challenger to Wisconsin in the West Division. It wasn’t Minnesota. It wasn’t Illinois, Northwestern or Purdue. Iowa was the only other program worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Nebraska in terms of challenging the Badgers.

I think we can safely say that as the 2020s begin, Minnesota has replaced Nebraska in that conversation, with Iowa still being the only other West program which can credibly be seen as an annual threat to the Badgers and what they have maintained. That’s why Wisconsin-Minnesota is the hinge-point Big Ten West rivalry in the 2020s.

How these last two years — Minnesota ambushing one of Paul Chryst’s more mediocre teams in 2018, Chryst punching back in a higher-stakes battle in 2019 — shape this rivalry creates a juicy subtext to the 2020 season, the 2020 reunion between these teams, and this next series of years. If Fleck stays put in Minneapolis and doesn’t chase the big, shiny apple at Texas (if Tom Herman fails in 2020 and gets fired), the Badgers-Gophers rivalry, which was spiced up this past weekend, could grow in national importance in the coming decade. Wouldn’t that be something?