Badgers cruise, gain title game
Capture Big Ten West, taking Paul Bunyan’s Axe back from Gophers
MINNEAPOLIS — As soon as Wisconsin’s victory over Minnesota went final, the swarm of white-uniformed Badgers raced toward Paul Bunyan’s Axe for a gleeful reunion with the traveling trophy they lost last year.
They ceremonially chopped at the goal post, while some turned somersaults and made snow angels on the field.
At the end of this breakthrough season by the rival Gophers, the Badgers showed they’re still in charge in the Big Ten West.
Jack Coan delivered two momentum-shifting touchdown passes and Jonathan Taylor added three touchdowns to his FBSleading total as Wisconsin reasserted its recent dominance in the rivalry by beating Minnesota 38-17 on Saturday to advance to the Big Ten championship game.
“The worst feeling in the world was losing on our own field and having them take it,” said Badgers linebacker Chris Orr, who watched the Gophers win 37-15 last year to end a 14-game losing streak in the series. “The best feeling in the world is beating them on their home field on senior day and taking it from them.”
Quintez Cephus caught five passes for 114 yards, including a 47-yarder for a score midway through the third quarter that gave No. 12 Wisconsin (10-2, 7-2) a 17-7 lead. Coan connected with Taylor for a 28-yard touchdown strike late in the second quarter that gave the Badgers the lead after a slow start, sending them on their way to a rematch with No. 1 Ohio State.
Taylor, the Heisman Trophy contender who had 200-plus rushing yards in his last three games, had a quiet 76 yards on 18 carries. Badgers coach Paul Chryst and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph called a shrewd game, though, with well-timed reverses and screen passes to put the Gophers on their heels after their first four possessions went nowhere.
They caught Minnesota defensive end Carter Coughlin in coverage on the touchdown throw to Taylor after a safety blitz. When the safety help was slow after a late change of the call, Cephus exploited a matchup with linebacker Thomas Barber for his score.
“A lot of the plays were extremely well drawn up. We just have to learn how to combat it better,” said Gophers defensive end Winston DeLattiboudere, one of six senior starters on the defense.
Coan was 15 of 22 for 280 yards, a career high for a Big Ten game.
“He was able to throw dimes down the field in these conditions,” Taylor said. “He has something special.”
Tanner Morgan passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns for the eighth-ranked Gophers (10-2, 7-2). He had an interception and a lost fumble that turned into 10 points for the Badgers, who scored touchdowns on their first four drives in the second half. Two of them covered 90-plus yards.
“That’s all on me. I’ve just got to be better in the pocket and moving around,” said Morgan, who set a Minnesota season record with 2,975 passing yards.
The Gophers’ dream season took a painful hit with losses to border-state rivals Iowa and Wisconsin over the final three weeks after starting coach P.J. Fleck’s third year at 9-0. Though the Badgers took home the Axe for the 22nd time in 25 seasons, the Gophers had no trouble expressing confidence in their progress.
“I know we didn’t tonight, but that doesn’t mean we won’t forever,” Fleck said.
The Rose Bowl remains a possibility for Minnesota, but the Badgers might grab that assignment and relegate the Gophers to the Citrus or Outback bowls, also on Jan. 1.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, heads to Indianapolis for the sixth time in nine years since the conference title game was created. The Badgers lost 38-7 to Ohio State on Oct. 26.
The Badgers might be wincing next month about what a onepoint loss to Illinois on Oct. 19 might have cost them, though they have a long-shot hope of their first berth in the College Football Playoff if there’s a bunch of upsets on championship weekend.
Either way, their recovery was a testament to Chryst and his staff, and the game plan for the Gophers was superb.
“There were a number of things that maybe we hadn’t done,” Chryst said. “It’s not like we put them all in this week, but I think the situations were right for it.”