MADISON - It didn’t take long for seniors Keeanu Benton and John Torchio to learn the importance of Wisconsin's rivalry with Minnesota.

Benton joined the program months after the Badgers relinquished a 14-year stranglehold of the Axe. During summer workouts, the team was running "stadiums," sprinting up and down the Camp Randall stairs.

The backdrop for the workout in the June heat: A replay of the bout with Minnesota from the November before in which the Badgers fell, 37-15, on the big screen in the stadium.

“It was a different feeling coming in here,” Benton recalled earlier this week. “Summer workouts I came in here in June right before graduation and we’re running stadiums watching Minnesota on the big screen.

“That was my awakening like this is a big game. We didn’t have to play them until the end of the year and we’re practicing for them in the summer. I knew it was big then.”

Torchio arrived in Madison as walk-on from California a year earlier and was a part of the 2018 team. That regular season finale marked the first since 2003 seniors walked away unable to chop down the goal posts with the Axe. The honor has been a tradition in Madison for seniors - or those leaving early - after a coming out on top in the border battle.

“I didn’t have any hate for Minnesota when I came here,” Torchio said. “I watched Wisconsin but I didn’t know the story. In 2018 we lost and just seeing the reaction of those seniors really resonated with me. To see the seniors react like that to losing the Axe and then 2019 to go up there and take it back, the emotions and the want to from the older guys, you have to buy in.

“I truly don’t like them. I’m sure they don’t like us. Coming in here I didn’t know much about the rivalry, but I’m fully immersed in it now.”

Of the past four years, two have come with a chance for Wisconsin to win a division crown and land a spot in the Big Ten title game. The 2019 contest was a win-and-in scenario for both teams.

Into this match-up, the Gophers come crawling in 7-4 after squandering a chance at an unlikely Big Ten title game appearance. Wisconsin comes in straggling after an emotional past 12 weeks that included a coaching change, losing a former teammate and shaky results on the field, landing UW at 6-5.

Throw all that away, however, when two programs line up against each other.

“It means everything,” interim head coach Jim Leonhard said. “It’s the longest rivalry in college football… You just know the records don’t matter. You have to earn it, it’s going to be a physical game and that’s the fun part about rivalries, it doesn’t matter. Banged up, struggling, playing well, you go out there and win it.”

The meeting on Saturday will be the 132nd installment of the rivalry that dates back to 1890. Wisconsin holds a slim 62-61-8 edge all-time. In the most recent meeting, Minnesota upended the Badgers in a game that would have sent UW to Indianapolis with a win.

When speaking to a number of players leading to the clash, the missed opportunity wasn’t the first thing that stands out from the game. The image of Minnesota playing Jump Around as the group celebrated a border battle victory at home made a lasting impression.

“Just hearing Jump Around when we lost, that’s going to stick with me,” Nick Herbig said.

Torchio once again returned to an ability to grant seniors the ability to walk away with an Axe celebration.

“We lost year and that was the worst feeling I ever had in football, losing the Axe,” he said. “The feeling of letting the seniors down and not letting them chop down the goal posts, that’s something I’ll never forget. It’s the worst feeling in the world. Not letting the seniors have their moment with the Axe. Scottie (Nelson), Collin (Wilder), Jack Sanborn, guys who totally deserved to have that moment to have them get it stripped from them.”

Torchio is one of just 11 Badgers who remain from the 2018 team. Part of two losses in the rivalry after dominating the series, the group isn’t shy displaying how much the match-up means.

Mere hours after coming away with a one point victory over Nebraska, fifth-year cornerback Alex Smith posted a photo of the empty case where the Axe would sit to his Instagram story with the caption “need it!.”

With little to play for outside of bragging rights, the Badgers will still have plenty of motivation. Former Wisconsin inside linebacker Chris Orr, who is now on staff as the director of player development, spoke to the team. The meeting came moments before the team went in for a Monday morning lift. In the weight room, the players had video of Minnesota celebrating to Jump Around on the TV.

“Of course, it’s the Axe game,” sophomore Hunter Wohler said. “We talked about it today, it’s the oldest rivalry in college football. If you can’t get up for this game then I don’t know what you can get up for.”

Leonhard has been around the program since he walked on at UW in 2001 and capped his senior season with a win over Minnesota. The interim head coach knows all about the rivalry.

“I don’t like them but I respect them,” he said. “I respect them because they have an identity, they know who they are and they’re going to force you to beat them. Very similar to what we are.”

With the loss to Minnesota a season ago and a loss to Iowa two weeks ago, the Freedom Trophy is the lone trophy in Wisconsin’s locker room. Saturday afternoon will mark an opportunity to retain the most important of the trio of trophies, allow seniors to walk away from Camp Randall on a high note and cap what has been a turbulent regular season in Madison.

“It hurts,” Benton said. “All we got is the Freedom Trophy right now. It’s the emptiest that it’s been since I’ve been here. It definitely doesn’t feel good, but I definitely hope to put it back in this year.”

“Getting that Axe for the seniors,” Herbig added. “One of my brothers is a senior. I want to see him holding that Axe at the end of the day. I want to see that.”

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