UW players grateful for chance to face rival Minnesota
MADISON – Wisconsin's players anticipated their final Big Ten foe in 2020 would be their No. 1 rival.
They hoped league officials would use Champions Week to allow the UWMinnesota rivalry to continue this season and not fall victim to COVID-19.
They wanted to the right to retain Paul Bunyan's Axe for another year rather than retain it by default.
The official pairings were announced Sunday, but the UW players had already been informed that Minnesota would be visiting Camp Randall Stadium at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“We all know what that means,” UW linebacker Jack Sanborn said Monday during a Zoom session. “We all know what the axe means for not only the football program but for the school and the state, for us and Minnesota.
“It's a game you've got to get up for. It's a game you've got to be ready. Guys understand that, and guys are going to go out there and prepare.
“We're going to go out there and play Wisconsin football.”
P.J. Fleck, in his fourth season as Minnesota's head coach, knows what the game means.
"The Minnesota and Wisconsin rivalry is one of the best in sports," he said this week. "This game means a tremendous amount to the student-athletes, coaches and fans of both schools.
"In a year of constant change, we appreciate the Big Ten, both administrations and each conference member institution for preserving this rivalry."
The teams have met 129 times, including every year since a one-year break in 1906.
UW leads the series, 61-60-8, thanks to a 38-17 victory last season in Minneapolis.
“Grateful we get an opportunity to play Minnesota and keep the rivalry going this year,” UW coach Paul Chryst said. “Very appreciative of how it all came together. This game always means a lot.”
UW has won 22 of the past 25 meetings. The Gophers snapped a 14-game losing streak to UW with a 37-15 victory in 2018 in Madison.
The Badgers returned the favor last season with the 21-point victory in TCF Bank Stadium, a victory that sent UW to the Big Ten title game.
The stakes will be different when the teams meet Saturday. Both teams have seen games canceled because of COVID-19. UW (2-3) has lost three consecutive games. Minnesota (3-3), has won its last two games.
“Obviously, it is a big one and we're just grateful for this opportunity,” quarterback Graham Mertz said. “Any time you can have a trophy game, especially playing for the axe, it's big-time.
“The guys were excited when we heard that. We're pumped.”
The UW players weren't pumped Nov. 24.
Minnesota officials announced on that day, four days before the Badgers were to host the Gophers, that that game was called off because of high COVID-19
numbers within the Minnesota program.
“It crushed us,” Sanborn said. “That's the big one. That is a game that every game you go into, that's the goal, to win that game and keep the axe here in Madison.”
Sunday was the first day of preparation for the rescheduled game and Chryst noticed the energy among the UW players. That was important since the Badgers were coming off a humbling 28-7 loss to Iowa.
“This game is a meaningful game,” Chryst said. “That is why yesterday it was pretty neat to be getting ready to play Minnesota. Because we thought we were gonna (play) and then it didn't materialize.
"We're excited about it and you appreciate being a part of something that is … obviously, there is a lot of history to it.