Badgers get to raise the axe again in rivalry vs Minnesota

“I feel like we’re playing two teams, ‘” Chryst said.

It was what the Badgers needed to turn the game back into the hands of Wisconsin’s playmakers. “It’s all about this Axe”.

Andre Robinson added 14- and 40-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter for Penn State, and Saquon Barkley scored on a 1-yard run in the second. If the Cornhuskers beat Iowa on Friday, Wisconsin will need to beat Minnesota to take the division and a berth to the Big Ten title game by virtue of its victory last month over Nebraska.

Wisconsin has now won the Big Ten West Division for the second time in the first three years of the league’s current divisional alignment. Three plays later, Clement dashed 2 yards for a score that tied the game at 17-17 with 11:58 remaining.

“It was a lot of frustration”, outside linebacker Vince Biegel said. Compare that to the first half when Minnesota had 21 carries for 115 yards, a 5.5 average.

“I felt like I know what they were doing every single play the entire game and then they disguise one coverage and I slip and mess up”, Leidner said. Hardin also had what – at the time – seemed like a game-changing play when after Wisconsin took the lead 7-3, he returned the ensuing kickoff 69 yards to the Badgers 13, where the Gophers would retake the lead on the next play on Wolitarsky’s TD reception. By focusing on the small picture, they’ve put themselves in position to achieve success in the big picture of college football.

Wisconsin surged to a 12-9 advantage to start the match, forcing Minnesota to use a timeout after back-to-back attack errors. Wisconsin is a 14-point favorite Saturday, but in 1994, the Badgers were 19-point favorites before the Gophers won 17-14. Giving up only 292.5 yards per game (eighth best in the country), Wisconsin gave up 226 yards by halftime and 293 yards by the end of the third quarter.

Pittsburgh 76, Syracuse 61 • Nate Peterman threw for 251 yards and four touchdowns and ran for one TD to key a wild victory at home for the Panthers in the highest-scoring game in Football Bowl Subdivision history. Minnesota held a 7-3 lead after one quarter at Nebraska but suffered a 24-17 loss. “Whenever we play Minnesota, I feel like there (are) always implications on the line“. We’re trying to beat Minnesota and we’re trying to beat (ourselves).

Either way, this is a season no one expected, except maybe the players who believed in themselves.

While sloppy play certainly did Wisconsin harm throughout the first couple of sets, the slew of service miscues failed to compromise it completely, as the Badgers would find a way to overcome the turbulence and head into the third set clinging to 1-1 tie.

The 2014 loss still bothers the Gophers, their coach, Tracy Claeys, and defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel.

“(Minnesota’s) offensive line kind of got a little down on themselves”, UW outside linebacker T.J. Watt said.

“It got us going for sure”. “It was on our hearts that we couldn’t do this anymore to our team, because we were only hurting our offense”. It can show opponents that we’re not going to give up no matter what the situation is. “Not just the seniors, but collectively as a team, we were able to go out, put that first half behind us, keep the Axe where it belongs – here in Madison, Wisconsin“.

One play at a time, too. That should be enough to get the Badgers’ competitive juices flowing, even if the standings are now out of the way. At 11-1, Ohio State will have a better finishing record than the eventual conference champion, with wins over Wisconsin and MI on their resume.

After consecutive losses to MI and Ohio State a month ago, the Wisconsin Badgers have won five straight games and now sit at No. 6 in the playoff poll.

Houston, who had been practicing with dumbbells all week, said in the post-game ceremony, “it’s awesome to be chopping down some goal posts”.