MADISON, WIS. – The joyful hooting and hollering coming from the visitors’ locker room at Camp Randall Stadium was familiar. Gophers football players were singing a rapid version of the “Minnesota Rouser” and savoring their work from the previous 3 hours and 16 minutes on Barry Alvarez Field.
Still, something was missing. There wasn’t the overwhelming smell of Axe body spray, with which the Gophers doused themselves and the locker room after their 2018 victory over Wisconsin. Nor was there the overpowering odor of cigar smoke, their celebratory prop of choice after their 2022 triumph over the Badgers.
Instead, there was just a hint of a cigar or two on Friday afternoon after the Gophers efficiently bludgeoned Wisconsin 24-7 in front 76,059. By pitching a first-half shutout and owning most of the key moments in the final 30 minutes, the Gophers won Paul Bunyan’s Axe in Madison for the third time since P.J. Fleck became the team’s coach in 2017. They’ve won the axe the past two times at Camp Randall and four times overall under Fleck, so maybe the celebrations, while just as fun, are a bit less boisterous.
“I thought our players dominated the football game; I thought they did from start to finish,” said Fleck, who turned 44 on Friday. “There’s four or five plays we want back where I think it could even be more lopsided. We made a statement in the rivalry, winning three out of four here at Camp Randall.”
Indeed, they did, outgaining Wisconsin 374 yards to 166, holding the Badgers to an average of 1.5 yards on their 24 rushes and forcing the hosts to punt on their first six possessions.
“This is the game you play for in Minnesota,” Gophers senior cornerback Justin Walley said. “It’s the most important game on the schedule. … To go out with a win like that is the most perfect outcome I can really think of.”
With the win, the Gophers finished the regular season with a 7-5 overall record and a 5-4 Big Ten mark. Wisconsin fell to 5-7 and 3-6, ending its 22-year streak of reaching bowl eligibility with six wins. The Badgers’ season is over, unless they get in via their high academic progress rating and the slight possibility of too few six-win teams to fill the bowls.