The result of tomorrow’s Minnesota-Wisconsin football game isn’t “life or death” for either program but the outcome carries significance beyond a typical Big Ten game.
Tim Brewster refers to the Gophers as an “ascending program.” The 3-1 Gophers were 7-6 last season after an awful 1-11 beginning in Brewster’s first year as head coach. A win over the Badgers would further substantiate the “ascending” description.
Bret Bielema’s Badgers are 4-0 after a disappointing 7-6 record last year. The season before Wisconsin was 9-4 after Bielema had started his career as Wisconsin head coach with a 12-1 record. “The what have you done for me lately” crowd in Madison has been critical of Bielema. A win over the Gophers, his fourth straight, would dial down criticism while placing the undefeated Badgers at 2-0 in the Big Ten.
Tomorrow’s winner impacts perception of not only fans and media, but probably recruits. The Gophers haven’t defeated the Badgers in Minneapolis since 2003. A Minnesota team last won in Madison in 1994. In the previous 20 years Wisconsin has defeated the Gophers 14 times but Minnesota leads the series 59-51-8.
Bielema said on regional TV a few years ago that the Badgers consider “Minneapolis” part of their recruiting territory. Tomorrow the Badgers take the field here with eight Minnesota natives on the roster including significant contributors in wide receiver Isaac Anderson, kick returner and wide receiver David Gilreath (both from Minneapolis) and linebacker Blake Sorensen (Eden Prairie). While the Gophers have several Wisconsin natives on their roster, those players aren’t as productive as the Badger trio.
The Gophers have verbal commitments for their 2010 recruiting class from three Wisconsin players, according to Rivals.com. All are rated three star players. https://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/commitlist.asp?SID=880&Year=2010&School=46
For the Gophers to recruit Wisconsin successfully they obviously have to produce better on the field than in the past. Minnesota hasn’t been to a New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962. Wisconsin has won three Rose Bowls and been to other New Year’s Day games in the last 20 years including two under Bielema.
A win by the Gophers figures to further improve player confidence. All but one of the starters was on last year’s team that collapsed after a 7-1 start, losing five straight games. Among the losses was a 55-0 defeat at home to Iowa.
The Gophers say they are better and more resilient than last year. A win or loss will test that opinion. A victory keeps momentum going toward the following week’s game, Homecoming with Purdue. The Boilermakers look like a lower level conference team and the Gophers could be 3-0 in the Big Ten after the next two Saturdays.
A Wisconsin loss tomorrow might set the Badgers up for three consecutive conference defeats. The Badgers play at Ohio State a week from Saturday, and then come home to face another favorite for the conference championship, Iowa.
And then, too, the Gopher-Badger game is always significant for its storied rivalry and bragging rights. This is major college football’s most played rivalry with 118 games in the record book. The two schools have been playing for possession of the Paul Bunyan axe trophy since 1948 and none of the Gophers on the 2009 team has ever won it.
Minnesota hasn’t won a trophy game against Wisconsin, Iowa or Michigan since 2006 when the Gophers beat Iowa. The Badgers have been winning the axe a lot during the last two decades but that doesn’t mean tomorrow’s game doesn’t have plenty of significance for them, too.