There are few rivalries in sports as storied as the one between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This weekend's border battle will mark the 120th time these two teams have met on the gridiron, making it the most-played rivalry in all of college football. This weekend Paul Bunyan's Axe will again be on the line, as it has been since 1948.
The rivalry between the two schools means a lot to the players who participate in it. Wisconsin senior quarterback Scott Tolzien said the rivalry with Minnesota is something Badger players hear about as soon as they arrive in Madison.
""It's the first thing you learn about when you're here,"" Tolzien said. ""It's a huge rivalry, one of college football's best. Even players from other states like myself learn early on how important this game is to the people of Wisconsin and the football program as a whole.""
The Badgers have emerged victorious in this rivalry each of the past six years, and therefore no Badger player has ever known what it is like not to have the axe in their possession, and they would like to keep it that way.
""We don't want to have the feeling of going out like that,"" senior safety Jay Valai said. ""We don't want anyone on our sidelines. I remember when we lost to Iowa in 2008 and lost the Heartland Trophy and they rushed our sideline. Their players and fans were bumping into me. It was a disgusting feeling. We don't ever want to have that feeling again.""
""The worst possible thing would be for them to come in here and win and storm our sidelines,"" sophomore linebacker Mike Taylor added. ""This is our stadium, our turf, and we have to defend that. We're going to need to play smart, fundamental football to win and prevent that from happening.""
The Badgers are coming off a disappointing opener in Big Ten conference play, falling 34-24 to the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing last Saturday. The Badgers will be looking to rebound after that game, and a big rivalry matchup might be the best way to do that.
""It's a great time to have extra motivation,"" junior defensive end J.J. Watt said. ""Coming off a loss, it's double the motivation because we want to show people what we can do. At the same time, I'm pretty sure no one on Minnesota's team has ever touched the axe, so we'd like to keep it that way.""
""With Minnesota coming in it's a personal game. Both sides of the ball need to be ready to go,"" Valai said. ""Our team has a lot of doubters, but as a team we respond a lot better when people don't believe in us. We have the little brother syndrome that way.""
Minnesota comes into this game with a 1-4 record on the season, including a defeat at the hands of the FCS South Dakota Coyotes at TCF Bank Stadium. Despite Minnesota's poor record, the Badgers know better than to underestimate the Gophers in a rivalry game.
""You put no merit to record right now in a game like this,"" Tolzien said. ""In the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry, records mean nothing. We know that they are going to give us their best shot and we're going to have to do the same. It's going to be a battle.""
""This game is a totally different animal,"" freshman running back James White said. ""No matter what the two teams' records are, they are going to be excited and give us all they have. They've lost four games this year but they are going to come out like they're undefeated. So we need to be prepared, do our jobs and hopefully come away with the victory.""
Wisconsin knows they're a better team than they showed last week in East Lansing, and they will have to prove that this weekend if they want to retain Paul Bunyan's Axe.
""We have to go out there and do the best we can,"" Tolzien said. ""We have proven that when we are firing on all cylinders we are tough to stop. But we have to be better in all areas, keep getting better and fix our mistakes.""
On defense, Wisconsin will look to shut down the weapons Minnesota has on offense—senior quarterback Adam Weber and junior running back Duane Bennett. Defensive end J.J. Watt emphasized the need to get pressure on Weber while he is in the pocket.
""When you are able to apply pressure, any quarterback is going to get flustered,"" Watt said. ""Hopefully we can get pressure on him early and force him into some mistakes.""
""We have to focus on doing what we have to do on defense,"" Mike Taylor said in reference to Duane Bennett. ""If we do that we should be able to stop him. He's a great running back, so we have to limit the number of plays he makes.""
Overall, junior running back John Clay did the best job of summarizing the Badgers' goals for this weekend.
""They want something we have,"" he said. ""We have to be able to defend it. We have it in our possession, and we want to keep it in our possession.""
