Wisconsin vs. Minnesota: Battle for the Axe
Usually when one college football team is favored by better than three touchdowns over another, the outcome is predictable. The annual rivalry game between Wisconsin and Minnesota, however, rarely is.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Daily Cardinal's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
222 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
Usually when one college football team is favored by better than three touchdowns over another, the outcome is predictable. The annual rivalry game between Wisconsin and Minnesota, however, rarely is.
Since Saturday's loss against Michigan State, plenty of people have noted that head coach Bret Bielema's career record against ranked Big Ten teams now stands at 1-8. Minnesota is not ranked this year—not even close, really—but they are Wisconsin's archrival, and Bielema has their number.
For some reason, football season seems to fly by every year. Maybe it's because teams can't play everyday like in baseball. Maybe it's because the playoffs don't serve as a regular-season redo like in the NBA and NHL. Whatever the reason may be, it feels like I just woke up from my NFL preseason-induced nap and yet we're already a quarter of the way through the regular season slate.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Badgers (4-1) entered Saturday's top-25 showdown with Michigan State (5-0) looking to make a statement in their Big Ten opener. Instead, the message came loud and clear from the Spartans in the fourth quarter.
Not only do the No. 24 Michigan State Spartans (4-0) qualify as a familiar opponent for No. 11 Wisconsin (4-0) as time conference foes, they also happen to look an awful lot like the Badgers on the field.
As a general rule, I will try to avoid rambling on, column after column, talking about the Brewers and the Packers. However, something happened at Miller Park on Sunday afternoon (yes, they're still playing baseball in Milwaukee) that—though it was not necessarily surprising—caught my attention.
The Badgers' women's soccer team opened up Big Ten play on the road this weekend and continued their run of defensive dominance to earn a tie against Purdue Friday night and a 1-0 win over Indiana Sunday.
If Wisconsin fans had any concerns about UW's inability to overwhelm a non-conference team this season, they should feel better now.
No team wants to get caught looking past a weaker opponent and turn in a poor performance. Whether or not that has happened to the Badgers early this season is up for debate, but one thing that is certain is No. 10 Wisconsin (3-0) has plenty to clean up in its final non-conference matchup this Saturday against Austin Peay (2-1) at Camp Randall Stadium.
For many teams in the country, finding five reliable options along the offensive line is one of the biggest challenges on any given week.
The other day, someone asked me who my favorite athlete of all time is. A name came to my head with an authority that surprised me because—to put it bluntly—the guy cheated on an entire fan base. He cheated on my fan base. He currently leads the one sports franchise I detest more than the Chicago Cubs.
Coming into Saturday's matchup, everybody knew the performance of Wisconsin's secondary would be important. In the end, three defensive backs teamed up to make the two biggest plays of the game for the Badgers.
Coming into Saturday's matchup, everybody knew the performance of Wisconsin's secondary would be important. In the end, three defensive backs teamed up to make the two biggest plays of the game for the Badgers.
This could be the week Badger fans finally get to see two of the defense's most exciting playmakers on the field at the same time. Sophomore linebackers Mike Taylor and Chris Borland both appear to be healthy and ready to roll, and just in time with the high-powered Arizona State Sun Devil passing attack paying a visit to Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.
Maybe the best thing that can be said about the Badgers performance in the first two weeks of this season is that they enter this weekend with two wins. Despite the unblemished record, Wisconsin has struggled to find its rhythm on offense and given up untimely big plays on defense.
This happens to me every fall. I follow baseball religiously from the day pitchers and catchers report to spring training, through the entire summer and into September. But then the first NFL Sunday rolls around and my interest drops right off the table.
Freshman running back James White may find himself behind the reigning Big Ten offensive player of the year, co-listed as the No. 2 running back on the depth chart with sophomore Montee Ball, but sharing a backfield is nothing new for the talented rookie out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The Badgers may have moved to 2-0 on Saturday, but the performance did not overwhelm many- including the San Jose State Spartans. After starting the game with a 10 play, 77 yard touchdown drive that appeared to be the beginning of a dominating performance, turnovers and defensive miscues allowed San Jose State to hang around before UW ultimately put the game away, winning 27-13.
After last week's 41-21 victory over UNLV, the overriding message from members of Wisconsin's offense centered around not turning the ball over and converting in the red zone.
After traveling all the way to the West Coast to open their season, the Badgers travel to south Florida this weekend for games against Florida International and Florida Atlantic. The Badgers take on Florida International in Miami on Friday night before traveling to Coral Gables, Fla. to face Florida Atlantic.