Wisconsin defeats Minnesota 31-0

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - It’s a familiar beginning: a wind whipped parking lot, alcohol and unrealistic expectations. Fans filled parking lots outside of the TCF Bank Stadium, ready to cheer on the Minnesota Gophers and the Wisconsin Badgers. 

"Well I think we are going to come out to an early lead, Wisconsin is overlooking us,” a Gopher fan said. 

A lot has happened since 2003: three presidents, the beginning and end of the Iraq War and seven “Fast and Furious” movies. But during that time, one thing has remained constant. The Badgers haven’t lost a football game against the Gophers. 

"I'd say it's a rivalry if the other team has a chance of winning. That does not seem to be the case for the last 13 years," a badger fan said.

The Badgers ended their regular season undefeated when they beat the Gophers 31-0 on Saturday. 

The last time Wisconsin lost a football game to Minnesota, their freshman were learning to ride tricycles and brushing their teeth before falling asleep with stuffed animals. 

"I was 13 years old, Rhys Lloyd jumping over the benches, I remember it well," a gopher fan said. 

Memories of that win for Gopher fans are bitter sweet. In the years since, this climatic field goal seems further and further away. 

“Lately it has been a one sided rivalry, but P.J. [Fleck] is the man to bring this rivalry to the next level,” the fan continued. 

In recent months the Gopher’s new coach, P.J. Fleck, has brought renewed belief that winning ways can return once more. 

Even a Wisconsin faithful thinks Fleck could change things. 

“I think P.J. Fleck is going to turn it around. He’s a good coach,” a Badger fan said. 

The University of Minnesota thinks so, too. They’ve extended Fleck’s contract into 2023. And they’re hoping that perhaps, at some point, Paul Bunyan’s axe will return to Minnesota.