Buckle up for the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe between Gophers and Badgers

The Gophers’ chance for a 10-win regular season disappeared on Oct. 25 at Iowa when the Hawkeyes had 31 points while Minnesota had one yard of offense in a 41-3 final.

The opportunity for a nine-win regular season evaporated Nov. 14 at Oregon when the defending Big Ten champion Ducks rolled to a 42-13 win.

And the window for an eight-win regular season closed last week at Chicago’s Wrigley Field as Northwestern rallied from a 15-point third-quarter deficit to win 38-35.

So, it comes down to this: The Gophers (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten) must beat Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium to finish with a winning regular-season record for the fifth time in coach P.J. Fleck’s nine years.

With a victory, the Gophers would keep hold of Paul Bunyan’s Axe with their fourth victory in five years against the Badgers and fifth under Fleck.

The importance of Saturday’s game and the rivalry isn’t lost on the Gophers’ Drake Lindsey, the redshirt freshman quarterback from Fayetteville, Ark.

“I know it means a lot,” Lindsey said. “When you get here, everyone says, ‘Just beat Wisconsin.’ I realized that when we were walking out after the Oregon game, and all our fans are right there, ‘Just beat Wisconsin.’ ”

A victory also would boost the Gophers’ bowl profile and match their regular-season record from last year. The Rate Bowl in Phoenix and the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium appear to be options if the Gophers beat Wisconsin. If they lose, the Game Above Sports Bowl in Detroit isn’t out of the question.

In order to win, the Gophers must play much better on defense than they have in three previous November games.

They have given up a combined 1,502 yards to Michigan State, Oregon and Northwestern.

In those games, the opponents’ starting quarterbacks — Alessio Milivojevic, Dante Moore and Preston Stone, respectively — completed 69 of 88 passes (78.4%) for 922 yards and five TDs. Led by Stone’s 15-for-15 effort Saturday, that trio completed 84.6% of its second-half passes (33-for-39).

“It was tough watching that film, swallowing that pill,” Gophers linebacker Maverick Baranowski said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to respond. And what it comes down to after watching that film is just everyone doing their job, all 11 guys on the defense doing their job each and every play.”

Michigan State began its rally from a 10-point halftime deficit with a 71-yard TD pass. Oregon had touchdown runs of 39 and 40 yards. And Northwestern had second-half plays of 38, 30 and 43 yards in its comeback, plus a 46-yard TD run in the first quarter.

“We have to eliminate explosive plays,” said Collins, who defines explosive plays as ones gaining 25 yards or more. “… Gave up four of those. Our goal is two or less. When you give up four, you don’t give yourself a chance to have great success. Of those four explosive plays, they score four touchdowns, and those are the four touchdowns that they scored in the game. So, you limit it to two of them, and who knows what happens?"

Wisconsin doesn’t boast an explosive offense, but it has been efficient and has complemented an improving Badgers defense as of late. The Badgers beat No. 23 Washington (13-10) and No. 21 Illinois (27-10) over the past three weeks.

That has the Gophers’ attention in an already-spicy rivalry.