Wisconsin Football: Preview, prediction, live stream at Minnesota

Wisconsin football looks to go undefeated during the 2017 season as the Badgers take on their arch-rivals on the road.

Despite the recent lopsided history, the rivalry between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers remains one of the most historic and meaningful rivalries in all of college sports.

Dating back to 1980, the Gophers and Badgers hold college football’s longest running rivalry. What used to be a game played for a Slab of Bacon trophy, the game is now known as the “Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.”

The Gophers led the all-time series for decades and now sit tied at 59 wins a piece in the rivalry with the Badgers. The tie is thanks in large part to Wisconsin’s current win streak over Minnesota, which stands at 13 as the Gophers have not beaten the Badgers since 2003. Wisconsin won last year’s meeting in Madison 31-17.

This year’s meeting serves to be of great importance for both teams. In first-year head coach P.J. Fleck’s inaugural season, the Gophers have mustered just five wins, two in the Big Ten after starting the year 3-0. While it was expected to be a transitional season, the Gophers are performing well-below expectations with their relatively easy schedule and need to beat the Badgers in order to obtain bowl eligibility.

For the Badgers, their storybook season looks to keep rollin’ as they try and finish the regular season undefeated for the first time ever.

Here’s how to watch the game online:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 25
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Venue: TCF Bank Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

The Gophers rank third in the Big Ten in passing defense, but unfortunately for them– Wisconsin does not need to pass often. Minnesota currently ranks in the bottom half of the league in rush defense, giving up around 162 yards per game on the ground. Badgers true freshman running back Jonathan Taylor is leading the conference in rush yards and has been named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, along with Penn State’s Saquon Barkley and Stanford’s Bryce Love.

If the Gophers want any chance in this game, shutting down Taylor and daring quarterback Alex Hornibrook to beat them vertically is a risk they will need to take. For the Badgers, Hornibrook has now thrown an interception in eight straight games this season. To make it easier on his team, he will need to take care of the ball- along with Taylor, who has had fumble issues this year as well.

Prediction

The Badgers are favored relatively big, but do not let the lopsided seasons and recent history fool anyone. Minnesota always gets up for this rivalry and competes in close games with Wisconsin, despite being outmatched majority of the times.

With one win away from bowl eligibility and a chance to ruin their rival’s playoff hopes, expect the Gophers to bring everything they have for this final game of the regular season.

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Minnesota will come out swinging and surprise some people with an early first quarter scoring drive, but Taylor and the Wisconsin defense will be too much in the second half like always and Hornibrook will make enough big plays to pull the Badgers away and lead them undefeated heading into their showdown against Ohio State.

Final score: Wisconsin 27, Minnesota 14