Five weeks ago, when the 2025 Wisconsin Badgers season appeared dead and buried, The Axe Game shimmered weakly in the distance as a relative afterthought.
Fast forward to the present, and Badgers/Gophers feels like the biggest moment of Wisconsin’s once lost season–a handsome capper to a Fickell redemption arc that nobody saw coming.
Let’s plunge into what the game might look like.
While I’ve been a relative optimist all year, which isn’t saying much, I’m seeing far too many “Bucky is going to crush the Gophers” takes.
But I don’t see a realistic scenario where Bucky truly rolls Goldy here.
Prediction: Wisconsin 23-13.
I’m deeply hopeful that this one doesn’t come to pass after how good the last few weeks have felt, but we’re talking about the worst case, so I need to plunge forward.
Here, the defense finds the sledding tougher against a very motivated Gophers’ offense playing in a stadium where they haven’t lost all season.
Making it worse, Carter Smith and his gang are unable to generate much consistent push (or points).
PJ takes The Axe for a second straight season (and 4th out of 5), and the Badgers end a campaign that started to show some real promise with a sick thud.
Prediction: Minnesota 24-10.
Cards on the table, this version of The Axe Game is a true coin flip for me.
I love the fact that the Badgers have been riding a solid wave the last few games, especially on Defense. That means something.
But Drake Lindsey is a good quarterback, and Minnesota is no pushover at home. Wisconsin will have to play every bit as well as it did vs Illinois to pull this out.
After a lot of back and forth, I’ll take Bucky grabbing The Axe back in a brutal cage match, adding another layer of hope for the program as it wraps with a 5-7* record that seemed impossible back in October.
Prediction: Wisconsin 20-17.
*With a slim academic-aided bowl game still technically possible, but unlikely.
