There are a lot of great rivalries in college sports. Duke and North Carolina in basketball, and Ohio State and Michigan in football; but one rivalry has stood the test of time better than all of them...Wisconsin and Minnesota. 2003 seems like a long time ago now, and if you're a Gopher fan...it seems like an eternity. That was the last time the Golden Gophers held on to Paul Bunyan's Axe, and on paper it looks like they may be waiting another year.
It was pretty well documented last season when they opened their new stadium that the trophy room sat empty in terms of rivalry trophies. No Little Brown Jug. No Floyd of Rosedale. No Governors Bell. Once again in 2010 the Gophers will look to finally put a trophy in the specially designed trophy cases at TCF Stadium, but it looks highly unlikely.
Coming into this season the Gophers have some big holes to fill, and we're not talking about trophy cases anymore. First Minnesota must replace offensive coordinator Jedd Fish after only one season with the Gophers.
It will be former Detroit Lions quarterbacks coach Jeff Horton who will be filling that hole this season, and yes we did just say Detroit Lions. He will have the opportunity in his first year to work with an experienced quarterback in Adam Weber, and will look to expand the Gophers rushing attack. A noble effort, but it will mostly likely not be in full force by the time the Gophers head into Madison.
The other giant hole on the offensive side of the ball is perhaps even bigger than an offensive coordinator. Of course we are talking about none other than Eric Decker. During his time at Minnesota Decker racked up over 3,000 yards, and punched it in 24 times. Not a small amount of offense by any stretch of the imagination.
So what does this mean coming into this season. It means a lot of offense is being replaced after the Gophers lose over 1,200 yards of passing offense. Both Decker and Nick Tow-Arnett combined for half of Weber's total yards passing last season, and now the Gophers need to find the other half.
In terms of rushing yards...that is also pretty scary if you are a Gopher fan. As a team the Gophers rushed for just over 1,200 yards and were dead last in the Big Ten in rushing yardage. For those of you keeping track at home that is 300 yards short of John Clays total individually from last season. If Jeff Horton wants to have a balanced rushing attack he has his work cut out for him. Sounds like a rough year offensively for Goldie and Company.
When looking at the defensive side of the ball for the Gophers all we need to do is look at last season. In the first matchup between the Badgers and Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium Bucky put up over 450 yards of total offense and almost 300 of that on the ground. John Clay also had a solid day with over 180 yards rushing. Bucky controlled the clock against the Gophers keeping the ball for an extra nine minutes.
So what should we expect at Camp Randall for the Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe...the exact same formula. Expect Bucky to pound the football with Clay and Montee Ball and control the clock. With the lack of offense from the Gophers we should see this season Bucky should be able to grind the game way down.
Don't expect a shoot out in this one. The Badgers should be thinking power run game, solid defense, and control the clock. As long as Bucky sticks to this game plan it will be another year with the Axe, and an undefeated record coming into the big one the next week. As long as the Badgers don't look past the Gophers they should be fine. But that is the ultimate variable, and if you don't know what lays in wait the next week...consult your schedule.
Boynton's Badgers Prediction: Bucky 21 Goldie 10
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