All-Out Blitz: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin

BadgerBlitz.com''s All-Out Blitz weekly series is where you can find everything you need to know about Wisconsin's next opponent. We get you ready for the Badgers playing against Minnesota to close the 2020 regular season.

Minnesota (3-3) vs. Wisconsin (2-3)

Date/Time – Saturday, December 19, 3 p.m. CT

Venue – Camp Randall Stadium (FieldTurf)

Television – Big Ten Network (Mark Followill, Matt Millen, Rick Pizzo)

Radio - Wisconsin Radio Network (Matt Lepay, Mike Lucas, Mark Tauscher), Sirius 106, XM 107.

Point Spread – Wisconsin by 12.5

Wisconsin Head Coach: Paul Chryst (9th year, 6th at Wisconsin) 54-19 record as Wisconsin's coach

Minnesota Head Coach: P.J. Fleck (8th year, 4th at Minnesota) 26-18 record as Minnesota's coach

Series History: Wisconsin leads 61-60-8 (Wisconsin leads 34-23-6 in Madison)

Wisconsin and Minnesota will meet for the 130th time, extending the most-played rivalry in the FBS. Only two other FBS rivalries have been contested at least 125 times: North Carolina vs. Virginia (125) and Auburn vs. Georgia (125).

The Badgers have won 22 of their last 25 meetings with the Golden Gophers, dating to 1995.

Since the introduction of Paul Bunyan’s Axe in 1948, the Badgers lead the series, 44-25-3 (.632).

At 61-60-8, Wisconsin owns the lead in the all-time series between the Badgers and Gophers for just the second time in a rivalry that dates to 1890.

Wisconsin took its first-ever lead in the series with Minnesota, at 60-59-8, when it scored a 31-0 shutout victory at TCF Bank Stadium in 2017 for its 14th straight win over the Gophers.

Minnesota tied the series with a win in Madison in 2018, marking just the third time the series had been even since the turn of the 20th century (6-6 in 1901; 59-59-8 in 2016; 60-60-8 in 2018). The Badgers regained the series lead with their 38-17 win in Minneapolis on Nov. 30, 2019.

Wisconsin redshirt freshman QB Graham Mertz’s father, Ron, played football as an offensive lineman at Minnesota from 1989-92.

The Badgers are 43-14 (.754) in conference play over the last 7 seasons (2014-20), since the Big Ten went to its current divisional alignment. Only Ohio State (53-4, .930) has a better league record over that span.

Wisconsin has allowed just 15.4 points per game to ranks 6th in the FBS in points allowed. Over the last five seasons, UW has given up an average of just 17.0 points per game, the 3rd best mark of any FBS team behind only Clemson (15.1) and Alabama (15.6).

With four fumbles recovered and three passes intercepted through its five games played, Wisconsin’s defense has forced seven turnovers on the season. The Badgers’ offense has turned all seven of those takeaways into scores — including five touchdowns.

The Badgers have allowed opponents to convert just 14 of their 60 third-down attempts — a nation-leading rate of 23.3 percent. That comes on the heels of Wisconsin leading the FBS last season with a school-record opponent third-down conversion rate of 27.3 percent.

Minnesota is 9-2 in its last 11 games away from home. That mark is the best for the Gophers during an 11-game span since 1934-37 when Minnesota also went 9-2 (3-0 in 1934 and 1935, 2-1 in 1936 and 1-1 in 1937).

Tanner Morgan did not throw a touchdown in Minnesota’s 34-31 win against Purdue on Nov. 20 (U rushed for five TDs), ending his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 18. Morgan’s 18 straight games with a touchdown pass is a school record. Morgan threw 36 touchdowns during the streak and Minnesota was 13-5 during that time.

Tailback Mohamed Ibrahim has rushed 195 times for 1,065 yards (5.5 ave.) and 16 touchdowns in his last seven games. Ibrahim has rushed for at least 100 yards in all seven games this season.

Joe Rossi took over as Gopher defensive coordinator after Minnesota’s 55-31 loss at Illinois in 2018. Since then, the Gophers are 17-6. In 2019, the Gophers ranked tenth in the nation in total defense, allowing only 306.6 yards per game (fewest amount since 1977).