The Axe will stay in Madison,, as the Wisconsin Badgers outlasted the Minnesota Golden Gophers with a 20-17 overtime win inside Camp Randall Stadium.

With injuries decimated the offensive skill positions, a couple of walk-ons once again stepped up on that side of the ball. On the flip side, the defense contained one of the Big Ten's best rushing attacks enough to pull out a W during "Champions Week."

BadgerBlitz.com presents its grades for the night of all three phases, its game balls and a new feature we call "Four Downs."

On Saturday, Wisconsin equaled the amount of points scored than the previous three contests combined. It was a better effort against a defense that was not as formidable as the previous three faced recently. That was with three key members of the offense not available in Jalen Berger and wide receivers Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis, then Graham Mertz being knocked out of the game in the third quarter.

Against Minnesota and a defense that was allowed over 212 yards per game, UW rushed for 175 on 4.9 yards per attempt. Garrett Groshek rushed for his first 100-yard contest in his career as well as the team's first player to hit the century mark in the ground game in 2020. The offensive line appeared to assert itself as well.

However, the unit only gained 322 yards (though on 5.3 yards per play), and it only converted 4-of-12 third downs. Before leaving the game -- and we do not know what the play call was or what routes the receivers were supposed to run for these -- but Mertz did not connect on particular throws where they appeared to be open.

Chase Wolf entered the game and completed 4-of-5 passes, including his first throw of the day on a four-yard touchdown pass to Jack Dunn. The redshirt senior wide out led the team in receptions (seven for 76 yards).

However, Wolf also ended with only 15 yards passing altogether and threw an interception late in the fourth quarter on a play-action throw intended for true freshman Devin Chandler. Tight end Jake Ferguson also caught just three passes for 35 yards.