Photos: Wisconsin Badgers fall to Minnesota Golden Gophers in Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe

The Badgers lost the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe for the second time in four seasons after a 14-game winning streak in the series.

The Badgers’ running game went missing as they blew their chance to play for the Big Ten title and a key pass interference call went the Gophers’ way.

Ineptitude on offense leads to awful grade as columnist Jim Polzin grades Wisconsin's loss to Minnesota and the end of the Badgers' push to reach the Big Ten title game.

With the Badgers in the red zone on their first drive of the game, a defensive holding call on second-and-9 appeared to bail out UW, but the penalty didn't result in a first down.

No single sequence showed the Badgers’ disarray more than what happened when they faced fourth-and-1 at their 21-yard line down by 10 with 4 minutes, 26 seconds remaining.

Braelon Allen’s seven-game streak of 100 or more yards rushing ended with 47 yards on 17 attempts, his worst performance by far since becoming the full-time starter. The Badgers totaled just 62 yards on the ground.

The Badgers finished with three sacks, but their inability to make Tanner Morgan uncomfortable allowed the Gophers to win back Paul Bunyan's Axe. 

The Badgers started the season talking about making history and completing unfinished business. They ended it by getting pushed around by a rival they've dominated.

Hassan Haskins matched a school record with five rushing touchdowns and Aidan Hutchinson had three sacks to break a single-season program mark, helping No. 6 Michigan finally beat No. 2 Ohio State 42-27 Saturday.

Jim Harbaugh has always been a good coach. Now he's a good coach who has finally beaten Ohio State.

Reasons for the Badgers' poor rushing attack, special teams issues and accuracy struggles from Graham Mertz are included in this week's rewatch of the Badgers. 

The Badgers end the regular season unranked after losing at Minnesota.

If Georgia can beat Alabama in the SEC title game next weekend and make a run through the playoff, it could break Alabama’s record for consecutive weeks as a unanimous No 1 team.

Wisconsin will face Berger and the Spartans early next season. 

State Journal beat reporter Colten Bartholomew and columnist Jim Polzin break down the Badgers’ loss to Minnesota, next steps for the program and the Big Ten title game between Iowa and Michigan.

The Wisconsin football team fell out of the College Football Playoff Top 25 after losing to unranked Minnesota last week.

Michigan moved up to No. 2 in the second-to-last College Football Playoff rankings, joining Georgia, Alabama and Cincinnati in the top four heading into conference championship weekend.

The Big Ten title game result likely won't affect the Badgers bowl possibilities much.

Tight end Jake Ferguson and guard Josh Seltzner were coaches' first-team picks on the all-Big Ten offensive teams.

The Badgers' use of motion, personnel packages and runs on first down stood out after analyzing each snap. 

What went right and what went wrong for the Badgers football team as it waits for a bowl game announcement.

The Badgers (8-4) will take on the Sun Devils (8-4) on Dec. 30 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. 

A fun thing to do this season has to been ponder how the College Football Playoff race would have played out if expansion to 12 teams had already happened.

Fourth-seeded Cincinnati is the first team to reach the College Football Playoff from a non-Power Five conference in the eight-year history of this postseason format. 

The full bowl lineup is back this season, with 43 games before the College Football Playoff championship game Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.

If a team is unavailable to play in the College Football Playoff semifinals on New Year's Eve because of COVID-19 issues, the game will be forfeited and the available team will advance to the championship.

A 9-4 season that concluded with a 20-13 win over Arizona State was good but not great, and the program now finds itself in a state of transition as the roster — and possibly, the coaching staff — changes.

The Wisconsin Badgers have never made the four-team College Football Playoff, but would have made it multiple times during the CFP era under the 12-team formats being discussed.

The College Football Playoff is set to remain a four-team format through the 2025 season after the administrators who manage the postseason failed to agree on a plan to expand before the current contracts run out.

"You move on as fast as you can, and that's what we did yesterday,'' Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said Monday, two days after the Gophers' devastating loss to rival Iowa.