Badgers roll into Big Ten title game with eye on playoff spot

MINNEAPOLIS — The weak schedule that kept Wisconsin on the fringe of the College Football Playoff picture has become a moot point.

Win one more game and the Badgers will be a sure bet for the final four. They’re still unbeaten and confidently striving for more after entering the weekend No. 5 in the CFP poll.

Alex Hornibrook threw three touchdown passes without an interception for Wisconsin, and the Badgers overwhelmed border rival Minnesota 31-0 on Saturday for their 14th straight victory over the Golden Gophers and first shutout since a 2015 blanking of Hawaii.

The only other time Wisconsin completed a conference slate without a loss was in 1912, when there were only five games on the schedule.

“It’s exciting, man. It’s something that’s really hard to do,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “I think some people take it for granted, but you can’t.”

Jonathan Taylor rushed for 149 yards on 20 carries, including a 53-yard scoring sprint on the first play of the fourth quarter that gave the Badgers (12-0, 9-0) their largest winning margin in a Big Ten game this season.

Aided by No. 2 Miami’s stunning loss at Pittsburgh on Friday and No. 1 Alabama’s defeat on Saturday by No. 6 Auburn, the Badgers head to the Big Ten championship game weekend next against Ohio State in prime position to move up and make sure they won’t be denied a top-four spot as an undefeated team.

“They’ll be ready,” coach Paul Chryst said of his players.

Rodney Smith rushed 16 times for 82 yards for the Gophers (5-7, 2-7), who finished coach P.J. Fleck’s first season by suffering the program’s first consecutive shutouts since 1950.

“The actual performance tonight? Unacceptable,” Fleck said. “There is no way that we’re going to look like that next year.”

With yet another smothering effort by the defense that started the week ranked second in the Football Bowl Subdivision in points and yards allowed, the Badgers kept Paul Bunyan’s Axe from changing hands and prevented the Gophers from reaching a bowl game for the first time in six years.

Hornibrook finished his first interception-free Big Ten game this season, completing 15 of 19 passes for 151 yards.

Demry Croft completed only 3 of 9 passes for 40 yards for Minnesota and took two costly 12-yard sacks by Badgers linebacker Ryan Connelly. The Gophers totaled only 133 yards and eight first downs, with two missed field goals by Emmit Carpenter punctuating the humiliation.

“We knew that we’d have to be able to play close to perfect to beat them, and at least take care of the execution of the opportunities that we had, and we didn’t do that,” Fleck said.

After Hornibrook’s touchdown pass to tight end Troy Fumagalli put the Badgers on the scoreboard late in the first quarter, Smith returned a kickoff more than 90 yards to inside the Wisconsin 10. The Gophers were flagged for holding, though, pushing them back to their own 33. They went three-and-out for the third of five straight possessions to start the game.

The last of those came after Taylor lost a fumble forced by Thomas Barber at midfield. On the first play after the turnover, Connelly raced into the backfield to drop Croft for a loss to the Gophers 37.

In the 127th meeting — the most-played series in FBS — Wisconsin recorded the first shutout in the rivalry since 1982, a 24-0 victory by the Badgers.