MINNEAPOLIS — Halfback Braelon Allen has been the centerpiece of Wisconsin’s offense for three seasons now. His first two Axe Games, however, ended in bitter disappointment.
His debut season, Allen wasn’t 100 percent against Minnesota. The Gophers found a way to stuff the freshman phenom to the tune of 17 carries for 47 yards. He had previously put up seven straight 100 yard games.
As a sophomore, Allen was injured and didn’t play at all. Worse than that, he was then 0-2 against the hated Gophers.
“This is one of those games, when the next season comes around, that you circle when you don’t have the best performance against them,” Allen said. “This one’s really been building up for two years now. I wanted to punish.”
Punish, he did. Allen collected 165 yards and two scores, running with a nasty physicality that wore Minnesota down as the game progressed. Typically, defensive players are lauded for the way they hit people. But Allen is not your typical halfback.
“The way he runs, the way he hits people, the way he gets tackled. I could never ever imagine that,” offensive tackle Jack Nelson said.
The sheer passion Allen ran with against the Gophers was clearly contagious. A strong running game is advantageous to any football team, but there’s a different feeling when the players wearing the Motion W start getting downhill. When lineman are moving bodies and backs are running defenders over, it represents the fundamental qualities this program was built upon. From that comes an energy that’s hard to quantify but instantly tangible.
“I don’t know that we’ve had it the past few weeks. To be honest, I haven’t felt it since Purdue,” head coach Luke Fickell said. “We all know what this program’s been built on. That doesn’t mean it has to chance. It might look a little different, but it’s still about the physicality at the line of scrimmage, it’s still about those guys in the backfield.”
“If I’ve got the biggest smile on my face, it’s because of that. It’s because of the line of scrimmage, the ability to pound it and wear somebody down,” he continued. “That’s the way I wanna live my life.”
In regards to the preseason hype and expectations oozing from this program, this season has been a disappointment. There will be no trips to Indianapolis. There will be no New Year's Six bowl game. When three straight losses dropped the program to 5-5, futility practically unbeknownst to this fanbase lurked around the corner.
“This is, as a team, all we wanted,” Allen said. “A couple weeks ago, it was trying to be bowl eligible. After we accomplished that, obviously that came with the freedom trophy. The next step was the Axe, and that was a non-negotiable.”
The way Allen ran in Minneapolis was the perfect embodiment of the Axe being non-negotiable. It was a vintage performance from the powerful back; he both took a beating and gave out one. He wasn’t interested in running around you, he was going through you. Whether you tackled him or not was almost a moot point.
Even early on in the game, it was clear that the Gophers wanted very little to do with bringing down Allen in the open field. Defenders would immediately go for the tailback’s ankles, both as an easier way to bring him down but also to preserve their own health and safety. Multiple times, the Gopher who finally managed to bring Allen down got banged up and needed a minute or two on the field or sideline.
“It’s awesome to see him keep running through defenders, running through tackles,” slot receiver Will Pauling said. “I was on the sideline, me being a receiver, I’m on the sideline like ‘keep giving the ball to Braelon. No one wants to tackle that big ol’ dude for an entire game.’”
Minnesota’s run defense has left a lot to be desired in recent weeks. They were gashed by the Buckeyes for 215 yards on the ground two weeks prior, and obliterated for 353 yards rushing against Purdue the game before. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that was a key vulnerability to attack. According to Allen, he did a great job of scheming the halfback into favorable situations.
“I think coach Longo did an amazing job setting it up to, we knew who was gonna be the unblocked guy. All I had to do was win the matchup,” Allen said.
“They got me a few times, but that’s not gonna keep happening.”
The Badgers arrived back in Madison on Saturday night with the Axe in tow. A man who was tired of witnessing seasons end without it was perhaps the biggest reason why. Allen has had a phenomenal career in Madison, but his resume was missing something critical: a victory over the Gophers. This was the performance the tailback was waiting for against the program’s biggest rival.
“I told Longo I wanted 40 carries tonight. I don’t think we quite got there,” Allen laughed. “To go out like that, to end the regular season…it’s an indescribable feeling.”
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