Minnesota vs Wisconsin: What to know about the Badgers

The Minnesota Golden Gophers will look to achieve bowl eligibility on Saturday against the Wisconsin Badgers in their final game of the 2023 regular season. The Gophers enter the weekend with a 5-6 record and are losers of three straight games to Illinois, Purdue, and Ohio State.

GET THE INSIDE SCOOP EVERY DAY WITH YOUR PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION!

The Golden Gophers have won back-to-back games over Wisconsin after losing 16 of 17 games between 2004 and 2020. All-time, the rivalry game for Paul Bunyan's Axe is tied 62-62-8.

Here's what you need to know about the Badgers ahead of Saturday's rivalry matchup.

First year of Fickell era has its ups-and-downs

It hasn't been a smooth season for Luke Fickell in his first season in Madison. Things started out well for the Badgers winning four of their first five games of the season but injuries began to pile up in mid-October, starting with a 15-6 loss to Iowa.

That setback started a skid for the Badgers in which they lost four of five games with losses to Ohio State, Indiana, and Nebraska. Their only win in the span came over Illinois. Last weekend, the Badgers defeated Nebraska 24-17 in overtime to get to bowl eligibility.

A grounded Air Raid offense

When Luke Fickell hired former North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo this offseason, a lot of people expected the air raid offense to come to Madison, and it is. It's just going to take a little bit for it to arrive at Camp Randall.

It hasn't been the offensive season that Wisconsin fans likely would've hoped for with the Badgers averaging just 22.4 points per game which ranked 103rd nationally. The passing attack hasn't been terribly explosive, averaging just 212.7 yards per game. The rushing attack has been what is expected out of Wisconsin, averaging 4.5 yards per carry and over 150 yards pre-game.

Quarterback Tanner Mordecai who has spent time at both Oklahoma and SMU has had a tough season battling injuries in the process. He's completed 64.7% of his passes but for just 1,543 yards and four touchdowns. Though he's only thrown three interceptions in the process. Freshman signal caller Braedyn Locke stepped in for Mordecai when injured and did a quality job in five games, completing 50% of his passes for 778 yards and five touchdowns with one interception thrown.

Running back Braelon Allen has carried the brunt of the rushing attack for Wisconsin with 155 carries for 819 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Badgers lost their other star running back Chez Mellusi earlier this season to injury. Mellusi had a quality start to the season with 51 carries for 306 yards and four touchdowns.

In terms of wide receivers, the biggest name for Wisconsin is wide receiver Will Pauling who has totaled 60+ receptions this season for over 600 receiving yards.

Notably, the Badgers have struggled will not turning the ball over this season with 15 turnovers in their 10 games this season. The offensive line has also allowed 18 sacks in 11 games which ties them for 42nd in the country.

New coach, new staff, same old strong defense

While the offense hasn't been stellar this season in Madison, the defense remains very good for the Badgers. Defensive coordinator Mike Tressel's unit has allowed just 19.4 points per game this season and under 340 yards of total offense per game. Their secondary has been strong, allowing just 195.8 passing yards per game while the run defense has been solid. On paper, they're allowing 140 rushing yards per game but are keeping opponents to just 3.8 yards per carry this season.

The Badgers' defense will be a tough test for Minnesota's offense which has struggled against similar defenses this season.

Wisconsin's defense is full of potential playmakers, especially at the second and third levels. You can see a few of those players to know below.