Gophers aren't the only team that's taken a step back entering Axe game

Four years ago amid fanfare and an ESPN "College GameDay" visit, the 10-1 Gophers and 9-2 Wisconsin met at then-TCF Bank Stadium with a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game on the line. The Badgers won 38-17, booking a trip to Indy and eventually Pasadena, while the Gophers were left with a share of the West Division title and then a spot in the Outback Bowl.

Four years later, the 5-6 Gophers and 6-5 Wisconsin will meet at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and this time the stakes are much different. Minnesota is limping to the finish line, having lost three consecutive games in November and needing a sixth victory to achieve bowl eligibility. The Badgers ended a three-game skid last week at Nebraska but have endured growing pains under first-year coach Luke Fickell.

There's also the fun part about the border battle: The winner gets Paul Bunyan's Axe, the trophy that represents major college football's most-played rivalry. The series is tied at 62-62-8.

"Our only focus is to be 1-0. Period," Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said of his team's goal for the week. "Our only focus is Axe week, and I know Wisconsin feels the same way."

Said Fickell, "It's about getting the Axe. It's about making sure we understand everything we can about this game and this rivalry so that we're the most prepared team."

Neither team measured up this season to recent standards. Minnesota went 11-2 and finished No. 10 in the final AP poll in 2019 and added 9-4 seasons the past two years.

The Badgers won the last of their five Big Ten division titles (four West, one Leaders) in 2019 and finished 10-4 with a No. 11 national rating. Since then, they went 9-4 in 2021 and fired coach Paul Chryst after a 2-3 start to a 7-6 season last year.

The Badgers have been a physical, ball-control team dating to the 1990s under Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema and Chryst. Fickell set out to modernize that approach, bringing in respected offensive coordinator Phil Longo of North Carolina to install a version of the Air Raid offense made popular by the late Mike Leach.

To run the "Dairy Raid" offense at Wisconsin, Fickell landed a transfer quarterback from Southern Methodist in Tanner Mordecai. The Badgers got off to a 4-1 start, with a loss at Washington State, but injuries started to hit.

Running back Chez Mellusi, who formed a solid one-two punch with Braelon Allen, was lost for the season because of a broken leg on Sept. 22 at Purdue. Starting with a 15-6 loss at Iowa on Oct. 14, the Badgers dropped four of five games. During that span, Mordecai suffered a broken hand and returned Nov. 11 in a loss to Northwestern. Allen, too, has been hampered because of a sprained ankle.

"When things don't go exactly as anyone planned, you really test the culture of your program," Fickell said.

Mordecai and Allen were instrumental in last week's 24-17 overtime win over Nebraska, which earned bowl eligibility for the Badgers. Allen scored the go-ahead and winning touchdowns, while Mordecai kept the chains moving with 51 rushing yards.

The Gophers won't have a sympathetic ear when it comes to injuries their rivals have endured. They've had their own issues in the infirmary, from a running back group that's using fifth option Jordan Nubin in the lead role to a linebacker group down to a walk-on redshirt freshman manning the middle.

The next-man-up mantra is in full swing, and Fleck knows that youngsters such as linebackers Tyler Stolsky and Matt Kingsbury getting trials by fire will pay off — eventually.

"Year 1 [with the Gophers] was 5-7 — a really hard year," Fleck said. "But if we didn't have that year, it wasn't going to set up that 11-2 season. 2018 was a hard year, but that set up '19. And then '20 was a hard year, which set up '21 and '22. This is a hard year."

On Saturday, the Gophers can smooth that edge a bit if they beat Wisconsin and transfer some of that angst to their rival.