Games do not get much bigger for the Wisconsin Badgers (3-2 Big Ten, 6-3 overall) than Saturday's contest in Minneapolis. The Badgers head into the Metrodome to face the No. 18 Minnesota Gophers (4-2, 6-3), with the rest of the season potentially hanging in the balance.
If they lose, the Badgers drop to .500 in conference play, forfeit Paul Bunyan's Axe for the second time in three years and up their current losing streak to three. Win, and the Badgers bring the axe home and rise to the top half of the Big Ten standings.
\This is the most important game of the season, it's a rivalry game"" sophomore wide receiver Brandon Williams said. ""If you don't win this game, it's just going to be a down season anyway.""
Minnesota has been one of the biggest surprises in the Big Ten this year. With a juggernaut of a running game fueling a powerful and explosive offense, the Gophers have rolled up the yards.
Minnesota averages just over 300 yards rushing per game, second in the nation and is fourth overall in Division I with 495.9 offensive yards per game. Add that to the fact that the Gophers have scored at least 35 points in nine of their 10 games and this offense is one of the Big Ten's and nation's best.
""We have to be able to control the run-they are going to run the football,"" defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. ""They've run the football on everybody and people haven't been able to even slow them down.""
Minnesota is one of only two teams in the nation with three running backs with over 450 rushing yards (UW is the other), and one of only three teams with three players rushing for at least five scores this year.
Sophomore running back Marion Barber III leads the nation with 16 rushing touchdowns and leads the Gophers with 995 yards on the ground. Throw in freshman running back Laurence Maroney-786 yards, eight touchdowns-and senior running back Thomas Tapeh-457 yards, five touchdowns-and you have quite a loaded backfield.
While the running backs and offensive line may power this attack, no doubt exists about who the driver is. Senior quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq is having his most productive season, completing more than 64 percent of his passes and throwing 17 touchdowns to just four interceptions.
But it is his legs that make this offense dangerous. Abdul-Khaliq-296 rushing yards, three touchdowns this year-has always been a threat to run, but his growth as a passer has made him even more of a threat.
Helping the Badgers will be the fact that the defense has seen its fair share of mobile quarterbacks. None of those quarterbacks had quite the supporting cast that Abdul-Khaliq has, but senior linebacker Jeff Mack said that experience helps.
""In all situations experience works best,"" Mack said. ""We've played a number of different mobile quarterbacks, [which] definitely works to our advantage. The main thing is to... contain him to some degree and put some pressure on him, make him make some throws.""
In the end, it all comes down to team pride, Mack says.
""Obviously the axe means so much to the players, we want to keep it on our side,"" Mack said. ""We don't want them running around, running through our sideline and picking up the axe. It's the Border War and that's what it is, a war. So, we're going to go at it.\
