Gophers grab the axe!

Gophers 37
Stinkin Badgers 15

The Gophers had not beaten Wisconsin since 2003. They had not won in Wisconsin since 1994(Jim Wacker!).

So naturally the team to end those streaks was this collection that gave up 55 points to Illinois just 3 weeks ago. What a weird season.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this win was how the Gophers were never really NOT in control. They never trailed, and once they had that big sequence late in the 1st half where Wisconsin dropped a 3rd down pass, then punted, and we ran it back for a TD and 17-0 lead, it was never really scary again.

Sure they let Wisconsin go right down the field in 50 seconds to cut it to 17-7, and I was sure that would be the beginning of the end, but the end never came. The defense clamped down in the 2nd half big time. Hard to believe this defense is the same bunch that got run over week after week earlier in the season. They have been solid to great the last 3 weeks, against better competition than some of the teams that crushed them.

The most surreal part of this game though was how the Gophers took the ball late in the 3rd, after bumping the lead up to 23-7, and just drained the life out of the Badgers with a long, steady drive that ate up almost 9 minutes. Yeah, Carpenter shanked the easy field goal so every fan could have one last "oh no" moment, but to impose their will on the Badgers on their home field like that was very impressive. Their 4th quarter T.O.P. was over 12 minutes. Can't blow a 4th quarter lead if the other team never has the ball(points to head).

The extra 2 rushing touchdowns they tacked on were like catharsis, like taking out 15 years of frustration.

Wisconsin were sore losers too. What a cheap ass move that was to take the axe and have it moved to behind the goalposts with a few minutes to go, thus robbing from the players the chance to rush the enemy sidelines and take their prize. I guarantee you if Minnesota had done that we'd have never heard the end of it.

The fans sure were salty as fuck too. Hard to knock the Gophers for beating a "bad" Wisconsin team when, newsflash, this ain't exactly some great Minnesota team either.

But they get the axe back. They get to go to a bowl game after all. And PJ Fleck, on the brink of a second straight 5-7 failure, finally has a win he can justifiably boast about. Even Glen Mason and Jerry Kill never won in Wisconsin.

And he is firmly ahead of the pace of Tim Brewster now. Brewster ended year 2 with a 5 or 6 game losing streak, including that 55-0 fiasco. Fleck ends year 2 with a solid 2-1 finish against 3 bowl teams, and probably will have a beatable bowl game opponent. There's at least something tangible to build on now.