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.
