Five things the Wisconsin Badgers must do to keep Paul Bunyan’s Axe

The Wisconsin Badgers will play the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a game that will decide who claims Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

One of the biggest letdowns of the 2020 season for the Wisconsin Badgers was seeing their game against Minnesota canceled due to COVID-19 within the Gopher football program.

Thanks to it being 2020, though, the Big Ten has an added week in their season and, to the delight of everybody in the midwest, decided to allow the teams to renew their longstanding rivalry.

Related: Team preview: Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Gophers’ season has been a struggle after finishing 2019 with an 11-2 record and a co-Big Ten West crown (which the Badgers obviously won thanks to their win against the Gophers), sitting at 3-3 with losses against Maryland, Michigan and Iowa.

The battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe has a way of changing narratives, however, and I’m sure both teams are seeing Saturday’s contest as the game that will make or break their 2020 campaigns.

Related: Film room: The good, the bad and the questionable from Graham Mertz’s performance against Iowa

Coming off a three-game losing streak, the Wisconsin Badgers will need to improve in several key areas if they want to come away victorious.

Here are five keys to the Badgers doing so, therefore being five keys for the team to keep the Axe in Madison for another year:

Five keys to a Wisconsin victory over Iowa on Saturday

The 2-2 and No. 25-ranked Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes are set for a December battle that will decide who finishes…

The 2-2 and No. 25-ranked Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes are set for a December battle that will decide who finishes second in the Big Ten West.

Entering the season, this matchup could have been for the division, but thanks to Northwestern’s victories over both schools the Wildcats have punched their ticket to Indianapolis and the winner of this game will now decide who faces Ohio State during Big Ten Champions Week.

Kinnick Stadium is never an easy place to win, and even when the Badgers have found success there it has been a hard-fought, closely-contested football game.

Related: Film room: Graham Mertz has a lot of room to grow after yesterday’s loss to Indiana

Expect that to be the case on Saturday, with the Hawkeyes riding the momentum of five straight victories and the Badgers looking to continue their four-game winning streak in the schools’ all-time series.

Saturday’s loss to Indiana happened in large part because the Badgers did not accomplish any of the five keys to victory I outlined heading into the contest.

Now, for Paul Chryst’s team to turn around on Saturday and end their two-game losing streak, here are five things they must do:

Five keys to a Wisconsin victory over Northwestern on Saturday

The 2-0 and No. 10-ranked Wisconsin Badgers are set to go into battle on Saturday against the 4-0 and No. 19-ranked Northwestern Wildcats…

The 2-0 and No. 10-ranked Wisconsin Badgers are set to go into battle on Saturday against the 4-0 and No. 19-ranked Northwestern Wildcats in a game that will most likely end up deciding the Big Ten West division.

Northwestern has completely turned things around from their 3-9 2019 campaign and currently sit atop the West division after wins against Maryland, Iowa, Nebraska and Purdue. They haven’t exactly beaten the Ohio States of the world, but this is a much-improved football team that is playing well on both sides of the football.

Related: Everything you need to know about the 2020 Northwestern Wildcats

The Badgers, on the other hand, enter the contest after a 49-11 drumming of the Michigan Wolverines last Saturday. We know about the two-week layoff that led up to that contest due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the program, but what Paul Chryst’s team did on Saturday answered a lot of questions about how good his team really is.

It seems like every year when these two teams meet their records go out the window, as no matter how good either team is the contest turns into a slugfest and seems to always be closely-contested.

The Badgers will need to many things right if they want to come away with a victory and move into first place in the West division.

Here are five keys to a Wisconsin victory over Northwestern on Saturday:

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