The bad blood between the Badgers and the Gophers has existed for years. In fact, the battle between the two furry mammals has gone on for 113 years in Division I football.
While most, if not all, Gopher and Badger fans know of the rivalry between the two teams, very few may know that there is more at stake than just pride, records and Paul Bunyan's Axe.
The two schools have established a Border Battle trophy which will be awarded to the school who scores the most points in games between varsity squads.
What's more, each sport is treated equally in the contest. Forty points will be awarded to the winners of each sport. The battle for the axe-which occurs only once-is worth the whole 40 points while a team that meets four times will be given 10 points per meeting.
Minnesota is pulling away from UW with the score currently at 185-75. According to uwbadgers.com there are still 160 points to still be decided, but Wisconsin will need to win a fair share of these to have a shot at this year's title.
The question is, how much does it matter? Do UW athletes or fans even care about the competition?
\I briefly heard about it. I think it was a while ago. I don't really know much about it. But it'd be nice for Wisconsin to get a win and win the Border Battle... I uh... I don't even know what it is,"" said UW hockey senior forward John Funk, when asked about the battle.
UW senior Nathan Schwantes is also a little skeptical about the Border Battle.
""If it came down to a pin versus a take-down in a wrestling meet, I'm not gonna care that much. ... If we accrue one loss in football or hockey, it means the world,"" Schwantes said.
While the powers that be have tried to equal out the importance of each sport in this contest, the popularity does not seem to have reached its peak quite yet.
It seems that football and hockey will still dominate the landscape of this longstanding rivalry, while other sports will look for the Border Battle format to take center stage.
