Wisconsin Badgers @ Minnesota Golden Gophers Recap

The Wisconsin Badgers kept the good times rollin’ as they were able to keep their season spotless with a 31-28 victory over the Golden Gophers of Minnesota. Not only do the Badgers extend their record to a very good 5-0, they also retain the great Paul Bunyan Axe. This axe, which has been a part of the Minnesota, Wisconsin rivalry for 119 years, will be returned to Madison and held by the Badgers for at least one more year. Scott Tolzien was the big hero last week against Michigan State, and despite a good performance from him, John Clay stole the show against the Gophers rushing for 184 yards on 32 carries and finding the end zone 3 times.

Most of the first quarter was very uneventful, as for 12 of the allotted 15 minutes, the only score was a John Clay 2 yard touchdown run to give the Badgers an early 7-0 lead. Eric Ellestad, place kicker for the Gophers, tacked on a chip shot 28 yard field goal to bring the Gophers to within 4 with just under 3 minutes to play in the quarter. After Wisconsin gave the ball back to the Minnesota, they wasted little time getting another score on the border as one of the most dangerous wide receivers in the Big Ten Eric Decker did what he does best and hooked up with quarterback Adam Weber for an 11 yard touchdown to give the Golden Gophers their first lead of the game going into the second quarter, 10-7.

Early in the second, kicker Philip Welch for the Badgers was able to bang through a 39 yard field goal to tie the game at 10. But, with 2 ½ minutes to play before halftime, Ellestad struck again with another 20 yard chip shot to regain the lead for Minnesota going into halftime.

The third quarter left little to be desire for scoring as well with nothing more than a 1 yard touchdown run by John Clay, giving him 2 on the day, the quarter and the score was pretty well maintained going into the fourth quarter. The touchdown run by Clay gave the Badgers the lead back going into the fourth 17-13.

Plenty of scoring in the fourth quarter as the Badgers first drive of the quarter lead to a 5 yard touchdown pass to tight end Lance Kendricks from quarterback Scott Tolzien to extend the Badgers lead to a two possession game with a score of 24-13. Deeper into the quarter, the Minnesota defense flexed some muscle as the Badgers, deep in the red zone, coughed the ball up on a Zach Brown fumble that was recovered by Golden Gopher Marcus Sherels and returned 88 yards in the other direction for a touchdown to bring the Badgers lead down to 24-21 after a successful 2 point conversion pass from Weber to Da’Jon Mcknight. Wisconsin immediately brought the lead back to a more comfortable level as, once again, John Clay found the end zone from 1 yard out for his third touchdown of the game, and more importantly the deciding score as the Badgers lead was now 31-21. Duane Bennett of Minnesota, tacked on a 1 yard touchdown run with 2 minutes to go, to try and give the Gophers life, but it was not to be. The Badgers would hold on and win the game 31-28.

No doubt that the Wisconsin rushing game was back in full force this game, with the Badgers racking up 295 total yards on the ground, led by John Clay’s 184 yard game. Quarterback Scott Tolzien had an average day to say the least passing for 159 yards and 1 score. Tolzien’s safety blanket Garrett Graham, once again, led the team in the receiving category snatching 7 balls for 68 yards. The big highlight for the Gophers was elite wide out Eric Decker ended his day with 8 catches for 140 of quarterback Adam Weber’s 271 passing yards, and Decker found the end zone once.

With the turnover ratio of this game being 1:1 with both teams losing the football 3 times, it is no doubt that penalties really hurt the Gopher’s chances at winning this game as they ended the day with 9 penalties for 75 yards lost. Adding that, with a career game for running back John Clay, and that’s a recipe for disaster no matter who is playing. The Badgers now find themselves in a two horse race for the best record in the Big Ten as a surprising Michigan State Spartans, whom the Badgers had just disposed of, was able to knock of the Wolverines of Michigan and leave only the Badgers and the Iowa Hawkeyes atop the standings. The Badgers will take on their first ranked opponent of the year next weekend, squaring off with powerhouse Ohio State, led by their phenom quarterback Terrelle Pryor at the Horse Shoe known as Ohio State University.

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