MINNEAPOLIS -- It took the Golden Gophers nearly 20 years to
wrestle the Little Brown Jug away from Michigan and bring it back
home to Minnesota.
It took them less than 24 hours to start forgetting about it.
"I'm so tired about talking about the jug," running back Gary
Russell said of the trophy that goes to the winner of the
Michigan-Minnesota game. "Now we need to get that ax."
Russell is referring to Paul Bunyan's Axe, which Wisconsin
convincingly took back with a 38-14 victory in Madison, Wis., last
season.
"We got smashed," linebacker Kyle McKenzie said.
Coming off the high of their first victory over Michigan since
1986, a span of 17 games, the 22nd-ranked Gophers (5-1, 2-1 Big
Ten) are doing their best to make sure they learn from their
previous mistake this season.
After a rousing double-overtime win over then-No. 11 Purdue in
their Big Ten opener, the Gophers were brought crashing back to
earth by Penn State the next week. A 44-14 loss in Happy Valley
humbled the Gophers and had many fans bracing for another midseason
collapse.
Then came the win at the Big House, and suddenly, optimism is
flying around campus again.
"We won, but we have to put it in the past," running back
Laurence Maroney said. "We came off a big win against Purdue and
then didn't play up to our potential. ... You can see guys are more
focused on Wisconsin this week."
The 23rd-ranked Badgers (5-1, 2-1) would love to be faced with
such a dilemma. But overconfidence will not be an issue following
an ugly 51-48 loss at Northwestern last week.
The Badgers led 17-10 at halftime, but gave up 674 yards of
offense to the Wildcats and couldn't complete a furious comeback
attempt in the fourth quarter.
Coach Barry Alvarez is hoping his team's first loss of the
season does not result in another tailspin. Last year, the Badgers
started 9-0, but a loss to Michigan State started a three-game
losing skid to end the season.
"Well, you're always concerned every week about that, but I
don't think we're the same team," said Alvarez, who is coaching
his last season. "We only had one game left and didn't have much
of an offense. ... We didn't have much of a running game. And so I
can't say it was because we lost, or gave up yardage or gave up
points against Michigan State that we didn't win the next game. We
just didn't have much to go to offensively."
That certainly isn't the case this season.
Wisconsin has topped 40 points in four of its six games this
season and ranks ninth in the nation in scoring offense (41.2
points per game).
Led by dynamic running back Bryan Calhoun and an impressive
pitch-and-catch combination of quarterback John Stocco to receiver
Jonathan Orr, the Badgers have one of their most balanced offenses
in years.
"They have an explosive offense that is scoring at an alarming
rate," Gophers coach Glen Mason said. "They have an equal
run-pass balance, which is probably a little bit different from
what most of us are accustomed to from Wisconsin over the years."
And as bad as the Gophers want that ax to come back to
Minnesota, Wisconsin is just as determined to keep it.
When the teams square off on Saturday, they will play for an
NCAA Division-I record 115th time. The two schools have played
every season since 1907, and Alvarez gives his team a history
lesson each time this game comes up on the schedule.
"I think it's important," Alvarez said of the ax. "I think
it's a tradition. It's one of the longest ongoing rivalries in
college football. I like to make it a big deal because I think our
kids should appreciate college football and what it means and what
it stands for and what this games means and all the people that
have played in it."
Minnesota defensive end Mark Losli perhaps paid the game the
highest compliment.
"If we don't get the ax back," Losli said, "getting the
Little Brown Jug won't mean a thing."
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Jon Krawczynski can be reached at jkrawczynski(at)ap.org.