BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — The longest college football rivalry, 125 years and counting, is flirting with a remarkable milestone. When Wisconsin hosts Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference game at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, the teams will be separated by a single game in the all-time series (the Golden Gophers lead, 59-58-8).
Some perspective: The schools began playing in 1890, the same year the stop sign debuted.
Should fifth-ranked UW (9-2Â overall, 6-2 in the Big Ten) prevail and extend its current winning streak over the Gophers to 13 games, it will create the first tie in the all-time series since 1901, when the schools were 6-6.
Some perspective: The average U.S. household income in 1901 was $750.
Outside of its historic longevity, the Wisconsin-Minnesota matchup is known for featuring Paul Bunyan's Axe, the traveling trophy that was introduced in 1948.
Minnesota won the first-ever Axe game, which was staged at Camp Randall, but the Badgers are 41-24-3 since then, including a 24-7-2 mark at home. The current winning streak began in 2004 and represents the longest for either school in the series.
Some perspective: The last episode of "Friends" aired and Facebook was launched in 2004.
To get you ready for the latest Border Battle, here are 12 things you should know, one for each notch in the current UW winning streak:
1. The Gophers had a 17-game lead in the overall series in 1989. The tide turned with two coaching changes. Wisconsin fired Don Morton and hired Barry Alvarez in 1990. The Gophers, meanwhile, replaced John Gutekunst with Jim Wacker in 1992. Since Alvarez took over, the Badgers are 21-5 in the series.
2. This is the fourth time Wisconsin comes into the Axe game ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll. UW won in 2004, 1962 and '58.
3. This is the ninth time the Badgers have faced Minnesota while ranked in the AP top 10. In the previous matchups — 2004, 1998, '62, '59, '58, '53, '51 and '42 — they are 7-0-1.
4. Minnesota (8-3, 5-3) last won at Camp Randall in 1994. Only 15 players on its current roster were born. Thirteen Wisconsin players had been born.
5. The UW winning streak has endured through four coaching regimes: Alvarez (2-0), Bret Bielema (7-0), Gary Andersen (2-0) and now Paul Chryst (1-0).
6. The Chryst family has done more celebrating than mourning in the Axe series. George, Paul's father, was 2-0 as a player in 1957 and '58 and 2-4 as a UW assistant coach from 1972 to '77. Paul was 1-2 as a letterwinner from 1986 to '88, but he won as a senior and hasn't lost since in three different coaching roles with the Badgers. His personal winning streak sits at 10 games.
7. The Gophers have never had a losing record in their all-time series with Wisconsin. They are the only Big Ten opponent of the Badgers that can make that claim.
8. This will be the ninth-consecutive meeting in the Axe series in which UW has been the higher-ranked team. The last time the Gophers, currently unranked, had that edge was in 2003.
9. Junior inside linebacker Jack Cichy is out for the season, his left arm in a sling, but the product of Somerset, Wisconsin, and Hill-Murray (Minnesota) High School took it upon himself to chaperone the Axe during practice Monday.
10. The Badgers are trying to win 10 regular-season games for the sixth time in their history. Every other instance — 2014, '11, '10, '06 and 1998 – included a victory over Minnesota.
11. The most-played FBS rivalries after Wisconsin-Minnesota include Miami (Ohio) vs. Cincinnati (120 games), North Carolina vs. Virginia (120), Missouri vs. Kansas (120), Auburn vs. Georgia (119) and Oregon vs. Oregon State (119).
12. Both teams have lost overtime games this season. The first OT game in Wisconsin history was a 20-17 decision over the Gophers in 1999.
