Braelon Allen's big day helps Badgers reclaim Paul Bunyan's Axe from Gophers
Braelon Allen ran for 165 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns as the Wisconsin Badgers regained Paul Bunyan's Axe after a 28-14 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday afternoon.
The Gophers got off to a good start on the opening drive when Jordan Nubin scored on a one-yard touchdown run to put Minnesota on the board early, but Wisconsin answered shortly into the second quarter when Allen scored his first touchdown of the game from five yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
Athan Kaliakmanis answered for the Gophers late in the second quarter with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Jackson, giving Minnesota a 14-7 lead with 4:30 left in the first half.
But any hope of the Gophers going into halftime in the lead ended just four plays years, with a 75-yard Badgers drive ending with Tanner Mordecai's 11-yard touchdown pass to Will Pauling to tie the game at 14-14.
The second half was a struggle for the Gophers, who couldn't contain Allen. After being held to just 47 rushing yards in his last two meetings with Minnesota, Allen rumbled for a 50-yard run before plowing in from four yards out to give Wisconsin a 21-14 lead with 9:24 in the third quarter.
Minnesota drove into Badgers territory on the following drive but punted from the 42-yard line, which led to a 10-play, 86-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass from Mordecai to Riley Nowakowski.
After having the next drive end on downs, Jackson fumbled at the end of a 30-yard pass and Kaliakmanis threw an interception on the final drive to allow the Badgers to kill the clock and reclaim Paul Bunyan's Axe.
Kaliakmanis completed 16-of-28 passes for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Nubin finished with 24 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown on the ground and Jackson had nine catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Mordecai completed 14-of-22 passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns with an interception and added nine carries for 69 yards. Chimere Dike caught two passes for 46 yards and Hayden Rucci had two catches for 32 yards.
The Gophers finish the regular season at 5-7 and will now wait to see if there are enough bowl-eligible teams with six wins. If there are not, the Gophers will have a chance to be selected for a bowl game which will be decided after next week's conference championship games.
