Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe has produced some memorable victories for Wisconsin

MINNEAPOLIS – Living behind enemy lines, Brooks Bollinger feels the intensity of the football rivalry between Minnesota and Wisconsin 365 days a year.

“Boy, there is a lot of anger and hatred,” said Bollinger, the head coach at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. “That is great, especially when you’re on the right side of it.

“It’s healthy. It’s good. I embrace it. I get to be around those people all the time. I think it is what makes this whole thing tick and what makes it fun."

Bollinger, who went 3-1 against the Gophers as UW’s quarterback from 1999-2002, will be a cheerleader when the teams meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.

The meeting will be No. 127 in the series.

UW (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) remains in the running for a berth in the College Football Playoff, can reach the 12-victory mark for the second time in program history, can finish league play unbeaten for the first time since finishing 5-0 in 1912 and can take the overall lead in the series for the first time ever.

And there is the matter of securing Paul Bunyan’s Axe for a record 14th consecutive season. If the Badgers do so, they should move into the top four of the playoff rankings as a result of No. 2 Miami's stunning loss to Pittsburgh on Friday.

Struggling through a disappointing season under first-year coach P.J. Fleck, Minnesota (5-6, 2-6) must upset UW to secure a bowl berth. 

The Gophers held a 54-37-8 edge in the series when Barry Alvarez took over as UW’s head coach in 1990. UW is 22-5-0 against its No. 1 rival since Alvarez arrived in Madison to bring the overall mark to 59-59-8.

“I can’t explain it,” Alvarez said when asked about UW’s 13-game winning streak in the series,  “because they’ve had some very good teams.”

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The rivalry has produced so many memorable games, though two with Alvarez still on the UW sideline stand out.

The Badgers were 1-1 in the Big Ten and 3-2 overall when they faced Minnesota in 1999 in the Metrodome.

Alvarez was in the Mayo Clinic awaiting knee surgery. Defensive line coach John Palermo served as interim coach and Alvarez watched the game from his hospital room, with a phone line connected to the UW coaches booth in the Metrodome.

“How’d you like to be the nurse monitoring his blood pressure for those three hours?” Chris McIntosh, UW’s starting left tackle from 1996-’99, asked.

Alvarez’s blood pressure had to be fluctuating wildly during the game because UW overcame deficits of 7-0, 14-7 and 17-14 to force overtime before surviving, 20-17. 

Vitaly Pisetsky forced overtime with a 36-yard field goal with 2 minutes 59 seconds left. UW's defense held Minnesota, which got the ball first in the overtime, and Pisetsky hit a 31-yarder to win the game.

Pisetsky acknowledged he didn't hit the ball cleanly, but Alvarez wasn’t worried about style points. 

“The man was deliriously happy,” said Pisetsky, who spoke to Alvarez by phone after the game. “I’ve never heard him like that. I think if he could have hugged me and squeezed me through the phone he would have. I never felt so much love from the man before or after.”

Alvarez was proud of his players and assistants, but one of his fondest memories from that game involves then-Minnesota coach Glen Mason.

Mason chided Alvarez before the game, saying he had a competitive advantage being able to watch the game on TV.

“I called him,” Alvarez said, “and I said: ‘You can come up here and we’ll get a six-pack. You can get in the other bed and have a telephone, too.’”

Mason, in his third of 10 seasons with the Gophers, passed.

He nearly passed out in 2005 after seeing UW rally for a 38-34 victory in the Metrodome.

The Badgers, knowing Alvarez was in his final season as coach, won despite surrendering 411 rushing yards and trailing, 34-24, with 3:27 left. 

Quarterback John Stocco, a Minnesota native who was barely recruited by the Gophers, directed a 71-yard touchdown drive to help UW pull within 34-31 with 2:10 left. He capped the drive with a 21-yard strike to wide receiver Brandon Williams, who finished with 121 yards on seven catches.

A failed onside kick attempt resulted in the Gophers starting at their 8 after the ball bounced off a Minnesota player and then caromed off the leg of UW’s Zach Hampton.

UW’s defense, which to that point had allowed 402 rushing yards on 60 attempts, gave up runs of 4, 3 and 2 yards to force a punt with 35 seconds left.

Stocco was preparing mentally to lead a game-winning drive. 

“I was sitting on the sideline, getting some water, talking to the (coaches) in the booth on the headset,” he said. “Then all of a sudden I heard the crowd erupt."

Minnesota punter Justin Kucek muffed the snap, linebacker Jonathan Casillas came through for the block and cornerback Ben Strickland emerged from a pile of bodies in the end zone with the ball.

As play-by-play man Matt Lepay would say: Touchdown Wisconsin.

Williams, who had returned two punts for touchdowns earlier in the season, watched the play unfold from the UW 35.

His internal reaction was hilarious.

“Why in the hell are you all blocking that punt?” Williams said, laughing. “Just go block your guy so I can return it for a touchdown and get all the glory. That’s what I’m thinking. ...

“I was ready to win the game. That’s the story that would have been told. I had to make 11½ guys miss.”

Instead, the stunned Gophers had to return the ensuing kickoff.

Reserve linebacker Josh Neal forced a fumble and DeAndre Levy recovered at the Minnesota 17 with 23 seconds left. 

The UW sideline erupted, with Alvarez shouting: “I’ve seen it all now.”

Stocco went down to one knee on first down and the victory was secured. He finished 3-0 against the Gophers as a starter. 

That marked UW’s second consecutive victory in the series. After Rhys Lloyd’s last-second field goal gave Minnesota 37-34 victory in 2003, UW took back Paul Bunyan’s Axe in 2004 with a 38-14 victory in Madison. 

They haven’t given it back. 

"The fact that we have had it for the last 13 years, it is to the point where we expect to win that game," Stocco said. “It was a lot of fun starting that streak in ’04 and I think these guys are looking at it like this is our game. That is what you want to have as a player.  

“You don’t want to be the guy that loses the streak now.”