Saturday will mark the 113th game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. With the exception of a one-year hiatus in 1906 when President Theodore Roosevelt cancelled collegiate football rivalries to ease tensions after players left games injured or even dead, these two teams have met on the football field every year since 1890.
In 1948, there was an added twist implemented into the rivalry. After Minnesota beat the Badgers 16-0 in Madison, the National W Club gave the victor of the game, the Golden Gophers, the Paul Bunyan Axe. The axe has been a part of the rivalry ever since.
The Paul Bunyan Axe is a 6-foot tall, double edged axe that is painted cardinal and white on one half, and burgundy and gold on the other half. Down the handle of the axe is every score of the annual matchup since 1948. Since Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez began his tenure at UW, the Badgers have been 9-4, winning seven of the last eight against the Gophers.
To the players on this year's Badger squad, there is a deep-vested interest in keeping the axe in Madison for another year. Seniors linebacker Jeff Mack and wide receiver Lee Evans have been there and know how it is to win and lose the game, and they do not want to see the Gophers carry it around.
\I've been here forever and a day and I never been able to carry the axe around the field,"" Evans said. ""My freshman year I was hurt. My sophomore year I just let the upper-classmen carry it around. My junior year we ended up losing. Last year I was at home after my surgeries so I've never been able to parade around with the axe.""
Mack has also been there for the excitement after the Badgers won, but has yet to touch the axe, much like Evans. It is his last chance at being to come face to face with the axe and he wants it more than anything.
""It would mean the world to me [to bring the axe home],"" Mack said. ""It's my senior year. The axe means so much to the state of Wisconsin, to the fans, the university and more so to us. There's just something about it. It's just a huge rivalry, the longest rivalry in college play. Just to bring it home is one of our goals for the year. We have to bring that home, fulfill that goal and get another win.""
With this season's installment of the rivalry, Evans knows that there is more on the line in Minneapolis than just the axe. With UW coming off a bye week after losing two straight, the Badger wideout can tell this game will mean a lot.
""I know people on [the Gophers] so it will be fun. It's a big game for us in the season. Besides all the personal things, we have to go up there and play extremely well to get this thing moving and finish this three-game stretch off right.""
It always hasn't been a sweet feeling for the Badgers. Though they have won seven of the last eight meetings between the two, two years ago the Badgers walked out of the Metrodome without the axe. Mack, though injured and not with the team, still felt the sting from the loss.
""That hurt. I was injured so I watched it on TV so that was a bad one. I don't want to see that ever happen again, bottom line. Not while I'm here,"" Mack said.
There is no thought of losing to Minnesota Saturday. Wisconsin needs the victory to turn their season around late and try to stay in the hunt for the Big Ten crown. If Wisconsin wins, keep an eye out for Evans after the game. He has big plans already in mind if he can get his hands on the Paul Bunyan Axe.
""If we win I'll definitely be grabbing it and chopping down that goalpost,"" Evans said.
