Any chance of Gophers winning Big Ten West includes needing to beat Badgers
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Not only is Paul Bunyan’s Axe on the line Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium, but it’s entirely possible that the Gophers-Badgers winner will get to play in the Big Ten Championship Game. In fact, Wisconsin will win the Big Ten West Division with a win. They are the only team that controls its own destiny.
The Gophers will win the West with a win over the Badgers, Nebraska beating Iowa Friday, and Purdue topping Indiana. Maybe surprisingly, Nebraska is favored to beat the Hawkeyes.
The possibility of winning the West was brought up during P.J. Fleck’s Monday news conference, as was the idea that the Gophers need to be huge Nebraska fans on Friday.
***Click the video box above to watch Fleck’s Monday news conference***
The Gophers have won the Axe just once since 2004. That was in 2018 under Fleck’s leadership in Madison. The next year, 2019, Wisconsin got revenge at TCF Bank Stadium with the West title on the line.
Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck met with the media Monday morning on campus.[KSTP/Jeff Brioschi]
Kickoff Saturday in Minneapolis is set for 3 p.m.