The Axe was there for the taking.
The Minnesota Gophers led the Wisconsin Badgers 17-7 at the half and seemingly had the game in hand, but it all fell apart in the second half.
After a strong first half, little went right for the Gophers in the second half as Minnesota's offense stalled while Wisconsin's revved up.
The result was another loss to their rival, the 13th straight, as Minnesota fell at Wisconsin 31-17.
Here's a recap of Saturday's game:
CLASS LESSONS
-- What in the world happened to Mitch Leidner? Talk about a tale of two halves. Leidner completed 7 of 12 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown and also rushed nine times for 60 yards with a TD in the initial two quarters. The final two quarters . . . well, yuck. In the second half, Leidner was credited with seven carries -- although four were sacks -- as the Gophers for whatever reason gave up on the zone read, which had been so successful in the first half (Leidner finished with 46 yards rushing). In the passing game, Leidner completed just 2 of 14 passes and threw four interceptions, his single-game high for picks. It was as ugly to watch as that last couple of sentences reads.
-- It is easy to blame Leidner in this one but Minnesota also got away from its gameplan in the second half, pretty much abandoning the run and putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback. And when the Gophers did run, good things did not happen. The Maroon and Gold gained only 13 yards on 17 carries, a 0.8 average. Compare that to the first half when Minnesota had 21 carries for 115 yards, a 5.5 average.
-- Looking at Leidner's interceptions, one was a nice play by Wisconsin, another came on a miscommunication as Eric Carter went deep while Leidner threw short while the other two were hurried passes as the quarterback was under pressure.
-- How bad was it for Minnesota in the final quarter? The Gophers had six drives in the quarter -- five of those lasted just three plays and the other two plays. Minnesota gained 22 yards on one of the drives but the other four "totaled" 0 yards or negative yardage. Minnesota really got away from the run in the quarter, rushing six times with three sacks. Three of those runs came on the 22-yard drive, albeit 15 of those yards were on a Wisconsin penalty.
-- Wisconsin blew a few good opportunities. In its first three times starting with the ball on its own 43 or better, the Badgers got zero points. But Minnesota blew an opportunity as well when Drew Wolitarsky couldn't hang on to a pass in the end zone on second-and-goal in the first quarter. After a short Leidner run, the Gophers had to settle for a 21-yard field goal.
-- Another missed opportunity occurred in the fourth quarter. Wisconsin had tied the game and forced a three-and-out. Running back Corey Clement burst through a hole but Jon Celestin knocked it out of his arms with Minnesota recovering. But the Gophers' offense was in nonexistent mode at that time and couldn't take advantage.
DULY NOTED
-- Wisconsin entered allowing 98.2 yards rushing per game. Minnesota exceeded that in the first half but finished with just 128 yards, which is the Gophers' third-worst rushing total of the season. Three of Minnesota's worst four rushing games have come in the last three games.
-- Minnesota was a plus-11 in turnover margin and had lost the turnover battle just twice this season -- both a minus-one. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Gophers lost all three games in which they had a negative turnover margin.
-- In his last two games against Wisconsin, Leidner had two touchdowns and seven interceptions.
-- Rodney Smith had his streak of six straight games with a rushing touchdown end. Smith has a rushing TD in nine of 12 games this season.
-- The Gophers had two of the stranger illegal block penalties -- on a Wisconsin kick return and interception return. Usually see those called on the return team.
-- Nick Rallis, who had 22 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss, recorded 10 tackles and 3 TFL.
WHAT IT MEANT
Another year of disappointment for Minnesota and its fans as the Gophers' losing streak to Wisconsin reached 13 games. Unable to play a complete four quarters also has to be frustrating. And, on top of it all, the loss certainly won't help Minnesota's bowl positioning as the Gophers can expect to participate in one of the lower-tier games.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
This is a tough one to hand out after a game like this, but we'll go with senior wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky, who had four catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. He also had perhaps Minnesota's best catch of the day (Rodney Smith could lay claim as well) when on a high pass, he tipped it to himself for a 35-yard reception. Not included in his stats is a pass interference penalty he drew on Wisconsin's Derrick Tindal.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME
KiAnte Hardin had a big game for Minnesota, tying for the team lead with 10 tackles, recording two tackles for loss and recovering Corey Clement's fumble. Hardin also had what -- at the time -- seemed like a game-changing play when after Wisconsin took the lead 7-3, he returned the ensuing kickoff 69 yards to the Badgers 13, where the Gophers would retake the lead on the next play on Wolitarsky's TD reception.
THAT MOMENT
You could probably pick any of Leidner's four interceptions as a turning point, but the key play in our eyes occurred midway through the third quarter. Minnesota was leading 17-10 and had driven to the Wisconsin 14. On a third-and-9 play, Leidner threw into the end zone for Rashad Still but Badgers safety Leo Musso flew in front of the Gophers wide receiver for an interception. That play likely cost Minnesota a chance to make it a two-score game, with an Emmit Carpenter field goal, against a Badgers team which was struggling to move the ball. But this pick seemed to give UW a little life, especially on defense, which proceeded to shut down Minnesota's offense after that play.
THIS NUMBER
5 -- sacks allowed by Minnesota. The Gophers had allowed just 10 sacks in their first 11 games.
THEY SAID IT
"We have one more left, but this one hurts." -- head coach Tracy Claeys
"I'm pretty (angry.) I don't know how else to describe it." -- quarterback Mitch Leidner
"Most of the time he was trying to do too much." -- Claeys on Leidner
"Quiet. We had it, but we didn't play well the second half." -- linebacker Jon Celestin on the locker room atmosphere after the game
WHAT'S NEXT
With the regular season over, the 8-4 Gophers await their bowl fate. The most likely destinations for Minnesota appear to be the Holiday Bowl (Dec. 27 vs. Pac-12 team) or Pinstripe Bowl (Dec. 28 vs. ACC team).
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
