It is the most-played rivalry in college football. Minnesota and Wisconsin have met 135 times since November 15, 1890, when the Gophers won 63–0 in front of approximately 800 fans. They have played every year since except 1906 — the single year President Theodore Roosevelt suspended college football rivalry games due to player injuries and fatalities on the field. The current uninterrupted streak runs 119 consecutive seasons. No other rivalry in the Football Bowl Subdivision comes close.
Minnesota leads the all-time series 64–63–8. The Gophers retook the series lead on November 29, 2025 — in a snowstorm, 17–7, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis — after Wisconsin had held it for the first time in series history following a 31–0 win in 2017. Minnesota had led the overall series since 1902, sometimes by as many as 20 games. Wisconsin won 14 straight from 2004 to 2017 to erase all of it. Minnesota has won four of the last five.
Why This Rivalry Exists
Minnesota and Wisconsin share a 300-mile border, similar climates, overlapping economies, and the same conference since the Big Ten’s founding. They are separated by enough distance to maintain genuine distinction and close enough to guarantee that every family in the Upper Midwest has a divided household. The rivalry is not manufactured by a television package or a conference marketing department. It is two states that have been playing football against each other for 135 years and genuinely do not enjoy losing to the other one.
Following the Big Ten’s latest expansion and the disbanding of the Big Ten West division, the conference designated the Border Battle a “protected rivalry” in 2023 — guaranteeing it will continue to be played annually regardless of future scheduling changes. It was a formal acknowledgment of what both fanbases already knew: this game is non-negotiable.
P.J. Fleck, who has coached Minnesota since 2017 and is now the second-longest tenured coach in the Big Ten, described what he heard when he was hired: fans, donors, and administrators were asked what they wanted most. The answer was simple: “Just beat Wisconsin.” In nine seasons, Fleck is 5–4 against the Badgers.
The Trophies and Their Stories
The Slab of Bacon is the original rivalry trophy, introduced in 1930. Created by R.B. Fouch of Minneapolis, it is a piece of black walnut wood with a football at the center bearing a letter that becomes “M” or “W” depending on which direction the trophy is hung. The word “BACON” is carved at both ends — the winner has “brought home the bacon.” Minnesota led the Slab of Bacon trophy record 11–3 (.786) during its 13-year run.
The trophy’s strange end came in 1943. Minnesota won the game and the fans rushed the field. Wisconsin student Peg Watrous was supposed to hand the bacon to a Minnesota representative after the game, but could not find him in the commotion. The trophy was reportedly sent to Minnesota’s locker room, where coach George Hauser refused it — suggesting such traditions should wait until after World War II. It disappeared somewhere in that gap and stayed lost for more than 50 years. In 1992, Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez joked that “we took home the bacon, and kept it.” In 1994, Wisconsin intern Will Roleson found it in a storage closet at Camp Randall Stadium — with game scores through 1970 painted on the back, evidence it had been maintained at some point. It is now displayed at the Camp Randall Stadium football offices.
Paul Bunyan’s Axe was introduced in 1948 by the National W Club as the permanent trophy. It is six feet long with game scores inscribed on the handle as the years accumulate. A new axe was created in 2000; the original was donated to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. The tradition until 2014 was that if the team holding the Axe won, they charged their own sideline, grabbed it, and chopped down the opponent’s goalposts. If the team without the Axe won, they ran to the opposing sideline and stole it. The goalpost-chopping tradition was suspended after a near-skirmish in 2013 in which Wisconsin players interrupted Minnesota’s postgame tradition of singing “Hail Minnesota” in front of the student section while attempting to ceremonially chop the post. The tradition was restored in 2015.
Wisconsin leads the Paul Bunyan’s Axe trophy record 46–29–3 (.609) through 2025 — a reflection of how thoroughly the Badgers dominated the trophy era even as Minnesota leads the all-time series.
The Series and What It Means
Minnesota dominated the early decades. By 1902 the Gophers had built a series lead they would not surrender for 115 years. Minnesota has claimed 7 national championships — all in the early to mid-20th century — and has won 20 Big Ten titles, the most of any program in conference history. Wisconsin has claimed 0 national championships but has built a modern program that rivals anyone in the Big Ten: 35 bowl appearances (the most of any program in the series by a wide margin), 10 Rose Bowl appearances, 3 Rose Bowl victories, and 14 conference titles.
Wisconsin surged under Barry Alvarez, who arrived in 1990 and built the Badgers into a consistent Big Ten contender. From 2004 to 2017 Wisconsin won 14 consecutive meetings — the longest winning streak in series history by either program — erasing Minnesota’s century-long series lead and taking it for the first time ever with their 31–0 win in 2017. Minnesota college football programs across the state had grown accustomed to Wisconsin’s dominance in this game over that decade-and-a-half stretch. Fleck’s arrival changed the calculation.
Minnesota’s response under Fleck: four wins in the last five years (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 — Wisconsin won 28–14 in 2023), including the 2025 game that restored the series lead to the Gophers at 64–63–8. Wisconsin missed bowl eligibility two consecutive years for the first time since going 1–10 in 1990 — a stunning fall from a program that had made 22 consecutive bowl appearances from 1993 to 2014.
The Games That Define It
1962 — The Last Conference Decider: No. 3 Wisconsin defeated No. 5 Minnesota 14–9 to earn a berth in the 1963 Rose Bowl. It was the last time the rivalry decided a Big Ten Conference champion — until 2014.
1993 — Wisconsin’s Rose Bowl Run: Wisconsin won in a game in Minneapolis, punching their first ticket to Pasadena in decades under Barry Alvarez. It launched the Badger dynasty.
2005 — The Blocked Punt: Wisconsin’s Ben Strickland recovered a blocked punt in the end zone in the final seconds to steal a 38–34 victory in Minneapolis. Minnesota had led with time running out.
2014 — West Title on the Line: Wisconsin defeated Minnesota 34–24 in Madison to advance to the Big Ten Championship Game. The Badgers went on to face Ohio State in Indianapolis.
2018 — The Axe Returns: After 14 consecutive losses, Minnesota marched into Madison and dominated 37–15. It ended the longest losing streak for either program in series history.
2019 — College GameDay in Minneapolis: With the Big Ten West title on the line, ESPN’s College GameDay came to Minneapolis. Wisconsin won 38–17 in the snow and advanced to the Big Ten Championship Game — again against Ohio State in Indianapolis.
2024 — Minnesota Wins in Madison: Minnesota won 24–7 at Camp Randall, giving the Gophers the Axe heading into 2025 with the all-time series tied at 63–63–8.
2025 — Snow Globe in Minneapolis: With the all-time series tied and both the Axe and the overall lead on the line, Minnesota won 17–7 at Huntington Bank Stadium in snow-globe conditions. Darius Taylor had a 49-yard touchdown run. John Nestor recorded two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Drake Lindsey’s touchdown pass to Jameson Geers in the third quarter sealed it. Students rushed the field. “The Axe stays in Minneapolis,” Fleck said. Minnesota leads 64–63–8.
Two Programs, Two Athletic Identities
Both states produce elite Olympic athletes with distinct strengths. Minnesota’s Olympic sports pipeline flows through ice hockey, wrestling, swimming, and track and field — disciplines shaped by the state’s climate, its Scandinavian heritage, and world-class facilities on the Twin Cities campus. Minnesota’s hockey tradition is unmatched nationally: the state has produced more NHL players per capita than any other, and the University of Minnesota men’s and women’s hockey programs are perennial national powerhouses.
Wisconsin’s Olympic sports identity is built on rowing, volleyball, and ice sports — UW-Madison’s position on Lake Mendota makes it a premier training environment for competitive rowing, and the Badgers’ volleyball program has been a consistent national contender. Wisconsin has produced Olympic rowers, speed skaters, figure skaters, and wrestlers who trained through the university’s elite development pipeline.
Two Universities, Two Identities
Both are flagship public research universities and longstanding members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. UW-Madison consistently ranks slightly higher in national undergraduate rankings and is globally renowned for programs in agriculture, sociology, and education. Minnesota is a powerhouse in engineering, business, and medical research, anchored by its proximity to the Twin Cities’ extraordinary concentration of Fortune 500 companies — Target, Best Buy, UnitedHealth Group, and 3M all have headquarters in the metro area.
Minnesota is an urban research university embedded in the heart of Minneapolis and St. Paul, giving students immediate access to professional sports across all four major leagues. Wisconsin is the quintessential American college town — Madison sits on an isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with a walkable campus, a nationally famous Saturday farmers’ market on the Capitol Square, and the kind of college-town energy that builds lifelong loyalty.
Since 1968, the two states have shared a tuition reciprocity agreement that allows students to cross the border and pay roughly in-state rates. The result is a fan base cross-pollination that makes the rivalry deeply personal — Badger fans in the Twin Cities suburbs, Gopher alumni settled in Milwaukee and Madison, high school friends who became collegiate opponents and never stopped arguing about it.
NIL and How Fans Are Now Part of It
Both programs operate in the Big Ten, the oldest conference in the nation, with a revenue sharing cap of $20.5 million per school for 2025–26 and approximately $63 million per school in annual conference distributions.
Minnesota’s NIL landscape has a critical structural distinction: unlike many states, Minnesota has no state NIL law. The University of Minnesota operates entirely under NCAA and institutional frameworks, opting into the $20.5 million revenue sharing cap through the Dinkytown Athletes collective. High school athletes in Minnesota face intellectual property restrictions rather than a full NIL prohibition. Minnesota NIL earnings are subject to the state’s 9.85% income tax rate — among the highest in the country — which shapes how athletes and collectives structure deals. Minnesota fans can back Golden Gophers athletes directly through RallyFuel, supporting a program that has won the Axe four of the last five years and holds the all-time series lead at 64–63–8.
Wisconsin’s NIL laws provide a more codified framework for college and high school athletes in the state, with clear eligibility, compliance, and disclosure requirements that give both athletes and sponsors a structured roadmap. Wisconsin operates within that framework through its own collective infrastructure, drawing on one of the most loyal alumni bases in the conference. Wisconsin fans can back Badgers athletes directly through RallyFuel — supporting a program with 35 bowl appearances, three Rose Bowl victories, and a recruiting pipeline that has produced consistent NFL talent for three decades.
RallyFuel’s weekly college football predictions game lets fans earn points and direct them toward NIL support. The schools leaderboard tracks total fan-driven contributions — a live measure of which fanbase is more mobilized heading into each late-November meeting. The Trophy Case tracks Heisman and major award contenders; Wisconsin has produced 2 Heisman winners, Minnesota 1, and the rivalry has shaped the Heisman race in multiple seasons where both programs entered nationally ranked.
Why It Never Ends
Minnesota leads 64–63–8. Wisconsin leads the Paul Bunyan’s Axe record 46–29–3. Minnesota has 7 national championships; Wisconsin has 0. Wisconsin has 35 bowl appearances; Minnesota has 25. Wisconsin won 14 straight and erased a century-long deficit. Minnesota won four of the last five and took the lead back in a snowstorm. The Slab of Bacon was found in a storage closet 51 years after it disappeared. President Roosevelt cancelled the only missed game in 1906.
135 meetings. One missed year. An uninterrupted streak of 119 consecutive seasons and counting. Every late-November Saturday, the same question — and a different answer.
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