The Minnesota Golden Gophers came up agonizingly short on Saturday afternoon when they hosted the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions and found themselves on the losing end in a 26-25 affair.

The loss was the Gophers' second straight loss and dropped their record to 6-5 on the season.

While P.J. Fleck's program begins to move on from Saturday's defeat, the early odds for the Gophers' Friday night matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison has its early odds.

Late on Saturday night, the initial odds for next Friday's matchup were released and the Gophers open Wisconsin week as a two-point underdog. The over/under for the matchup is initially set at 44.5 points.

The Badgers enter the game as the favorite despite being losers of four straight games including a 44-25 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday in Lincoln. The loss dropped Wisconsin's record to 5-6 on the season including 3-5 in Big Ten play.

The Badgers now in Luke Fickell's second season with the program will be playing for bowl eligibility next weekend.

Friday's game will be the 134th overall meeting between the two programs. Through the first 133 meetings, Wisconsin has a one-game advantage in the series with a 63-8-62 record. After winning 14 straight from 2004 through 2017, the Gophers have won three of their last five including a 23-16 win in 2022 in Madison.

The Gophers and Badgers will kick off on Friday at 11:00 a.m. CT with Paul Bunyan's Axe on the line.

============================

- Talk about it INSIDE GOPHER NATION.

- Follow us on Twitter: @MinnesotaRivals, @RivalsDylanCC

- SUBSCRIBE to Gophers Nation