Salv-AXE Operation

Gophers 23
Badgers 13

Alright, they got it done. After a season that looked like it was going to end up a big fat zero, the Gophers saved their best win for last. They took down the Wisconsin Badgers and won control of the axe.

I don't think it is the superhuman achievement that some do to win this game. I don't think it salvages everything from this season. We still have the embarrassing loss to Bowling Green. We still have the embarrassing loss to  Illinois. We still threw away a golden opportunity to win at Iowa and win the Big Ten West.

Those realities don't go away just because we got a win against Wisconsin and got to troll them a little bit at home (Badger fans whining almost as much as the Packtards). But this was a good win, and a better win than the 2018 game at Madison because while that Wisconsin team was rather terrible, this was a ranked Wisconsin team that had often looked dominant after a shaky start to the year.

And they didn't curl up into a ball after that early pick-six which most other Gopher teams would have used as an excuse to lay down and get blown out.

The star of the game was the Gophers defense. They never gave up a touchdown. Once the offense was able to put some points on the board to take the lead, the defense never gave it up, and they put the hammer down at the end. There were no collapses on this day.

So they finish the pre-bowl portion of the season 8-4. They won't get as good a bowl game slot as they did in 2019, but it won't be the Motor City Bowl either.

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