Rivalries define the Big Ten. Flashback to Oct. 29th last year. Under the lights in Columbus, Ohio, quarterback Braxton Miller heaves a forty-yard bomb with 20 seconds left in the game.
The ball floats over a burned Badger secondary, falls straight into wide receiver Devin Smith‘s lap for an easy touchdown and the entire Wisconsin fan base lets out a collective “I hate Ohio St!”
This loss on top of the Badgers’ colossal win against the then-No. 1 Buckeyes in 2010, led everyone in Badger nation to declare Ohio State as Wisconsin’s biggest rival.
While they are two of the Big Ten’s best teams and there is something on the line in almost every game, Ohio State is not the Badgers’ biggest rival. These two teams each have their own foes that date back much further than 2010. The Buckeyes’ biggest rival is Michigan, and the Badgers’ is undoubtedly Minnesota.
Rivalry is what college football is all about. It’s about two teams with a long history of hate, big plays, heart-breaking losses and endless smack talk.
Whether it’s the prestige of the Army-Navy game, the golden helmets of Notre Dame against the Trojans of USC or the sheer chaos of the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, rivalries mean something more than just the score at the end of the game.
You need to win the rivalry game because you can’t live with the fact that the fans on the other side are going to put awful noise in your ear for an entire year.
The rivalry game being played in Madison this weekend has something that all of those classics lack. When the Gophers and Badgers take the field, it will be for the 122th time—the oldest rivalry in all of college football. The first game between these two teams was in 1890. If that’s not history I don’t know what is.
Yes, the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe is the most important game on the Badgers’ schedule for one reason: bragging rights.
How many students do you know enrolled at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities? Probably more than you know in Columbus, and I’m sure every one of the Gopher fans has every Badger they know on speed dial, ready to rub it in their face if the Gophers get to hoist the Axe this Saturday.
Although Minnesota has fallen on some tough times lately, let’s not forget some of the amazing games played in this rivalry.
In 1994, the then-defending Rose Bowl Champion Badgers played host to the Gophers and lost a heart-breaker, 17-14. That was one of the Gophers’ three measly wins that year. Despite the poor season, the Gophers still brought their best when the Axe was on the line.
Jump to 2005: the No. 23 Badgers travelled to the Metrodome to play the No. 22 ranked Gophers. Wisconsin was trailing 34-31 with only 38 seconds left in the game. The Minnesota punter mishandled the snap on a punt and the Badgers were able to block the kick and recover it in the end zone for a touchdown, a rather exhilarating way to capture Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
Despite the last few seasons of ineptitude from Minnesota, the Gophers still hold the all-time record at 59-54-8. In fact, Badger fans should dislike the Gophers more for taking the fire right out of one of college football’s best rivalries.
No matter who wins or loses, both fan bases will remember the game until the two squads take the field next year in Minneapolis. Rivals are two peas in a pod; it’s very hard to bring up one and not think of the other.
On Oct. 29th, 2011, when Braxton Miller ripped the hearts out of the Badger fans, Buckeye fans did not care because all they were thinking of was their game at the end of the year with Michigan.
Despite the fact that the Badgers might have games with bigger title implications in 2012, they will certainly not face a bigger rival than Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Do you think the Minnesota game is the Badgers’ biggest of the season? Is another team emerging as a bigger rival for Wisconsin? Let Grey know what you think at: sports@dailycardinal.com
