Badgers Prepare to Run With Gophers
November 03, 2003 | Football
After a bye date this past weekend, the Wisconsin football team (6-3, 3-2) will resume play this Saturday when they travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-2, 4-2). This weekend's match-up will be a showdown between the top two rushing offenses in the Big Ten conference.
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Tulsa are the only teams in the nation with three players who have rushed for at least five touchdowns so far this season. The Badgers and the Gophers are the only two teams in the country with three players who have rushed for at least 450 yards this year.
Junior Anthony Davis leads the Badgers this season with 595 yards rushing despite missing three complete games and parts of three others due to injury. In two career games against Minnesota, Davis has rushed for a total of 509 yards and eight touchdowns. He ran for a career-high 301 yards and five touchdowns in last year's 49-31 win over Minnesota at Camp Randall Stadium.
Sophomore Dwayne Smith has appeared in all nine games and made three starts on his way to 500 yards on the ground and six touchdowns this season. Freshman Booker Stanley rounds out the trio with 453 yards and five touchdowns, including a 119-yard, three TD performance against North Carolina.
Minnesota is first in the Big Ten and second in the nation averaging just over 300 rushing yards per game. The Badgers are second in the conference averaging nearly 190 yards a contest.
Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CDT Saturday at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The game will be televised on ESPN.
