BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Dare Ogunbowale was a true freshman cornerback for the Wisconsin football team in October of 2012 when he was shoved into the emotional deep end of Axe Week.
The Badgers were prepping to play Big Ten Conference mega-rival Minnesota at Camp Randall Stadium and Ogunbowale, a green, unheralded walk-on from Milwaukee, was at practice working with the scout team.
The task of mimicking defensive formations and tendencies employed by the opponent — all for the benefit of the UW offense — isn't generally high-intensity stuff, but Ogunbowale found out that it can be under certain circumstances.
Such as the week leading up to facing the Gophers, knowing that Paul Bunyan's Axe — a traveling trophy in the series going back to 1948 — is in jeopardy.
Ogunbowale said senior center Travis Frederick sent him an explicit message about the importance of getting ready to participate in the oldest rivalry in college football.
"He was blocking and he cut (blocked) me," Ogunbowale recalled Monday. "I wasn't even involved in the play and he just cut me." Why, the new kid asked the veteran and future NFL standout.
"It's Axe Week," was the reply.
"Ever since then," Ogunbowale said, "I realized that that was a big, big game and you have to practice hard to prepare and prepare like it's the biggest game of the season."
Five years after Frederick and the Badgers rolled to a 38-13 victory, Ogunbowale, now a senior tailback, is looking forward to keeping up the tradition in the 126th meeting between the schools.
Wisconsin has won 12 straight against the Gophers dating back to 2004. Ogunbowale and his 12 fellow seniors have no intention of letting the Axe out of their sights when the clubs meet Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Camp Randall.
"We talk about that a lot," he said. "We want to make sure we're not the class to give it up."
There's a specially-made display case for the Axe in the middle of the UW locker room. Visitors there this week will also notice highlights from previous Axe games playing on the various video boards, a bow to the motivational techniques of former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema.
"We get to look at it every single day in our locker room and, as a senior going out, I'm going to do everything I can in my power to keep that Axe down in our locker room, so our freshmen can continue to look at that trophy every single day," senior outside linebacker Vince Biegel said.
The fifth-ranked Badgers (9-2 overall, 6-2 in the Big Ten West Division) are playing for much more than a wooden trophy and pride.
They would clinch the division title outright by knocking off Minnesota (8-3, 5-3) and advance to the Big Ten title game opposite the East Division winner on Dec. 3 in Indianapolis. It would also keep them in the hunt for a possible semifinal berth in the College Football Playoff.
Wisconsin was slotted sixth in the latest CFP committee rankings released last week. That was before the Badgers walloped Purdue 49-20 for their fifth consecutive Big Ten victory. The next installment of playoff ratings is due Tuesday.
"We're aware of the implications and the importance of this game, but, credit to our players, we're able to stay focused and not make it too much bigger than it is," Biegel said.
It's possible that UW could secure at least a share of the Big Ten West championship on Friday if Nebraska (9-2, 6-2) falls at Iowa (7-4, 5-3). The Badgers own the head-to-head tiebreaker with Nebraska thanks to a 23-17 overtime win on Oct. 29.
"Obviously we'd love to see Iowa win, right?" Biegel asked rhetorically. "But we want to take care of business on Saturday."
Even if four teams tie with 6-3 records, Wisconsin has all the pertinent tiebreakers in its favor that would send it to its fourth Big Ten title game since the event debuted in 2011.
"We want to put the ball in our hands," Biegel said. "We're in control of our own destiny and that's the way we want it to be.
"We want to take care of our business. We want to leave no questions on the table who the Big Ten West champions are."
Twelve consecutive wins for the Badgers over Minnesota represents the third-longest active streak of its kind in the Big Ten. It's also the second-longest over one school in Wisconsin history, right behind the 13-gamer over Northwestern from 1972 to '84.
Four different head coaches — Barry Alvarez, Bielema, Gary Andersen and now Paul Chryst — have worked the UW sideline during the streak.
Alvarez, currently the UW Director of Athletics and a member of the CFP committee, was coaching the Badgers the last time Minnesota won a game at Camp Randall. That was 1994. Ten straight losses in Madison have followed.
Chryst said more attention is paid to the Axe rivalry now than when he lettered for Wisconsin from 1986 to '88, but that doesn't mean it meant less back in his day.
One of the highlights of Chryst's playing career was a 14-7 victory over Minnesota on his Senior Day. It was the only victory of the season for the Badgers.
"You ask any of the guys I played with, that was the only trophy we were playing for at the time," he said. "I think it's always been big."
Like Chryst, who grew up in Madison and Platteville, senior safety Leo Musso is a homegrown kid from Waunakee. He remembers watching the Axe games growing up, which explains his current attitude.
Asked Monday if he was surprised that the Badgers had won 12 straight.
"No," he said flatly. "I'm a Wisconsin kid, so I'm not going to tell you it's surprising."
Ogunbowale said he has "a bunch" of favorite memories from playing for the Axe. The 2013 game in Minneapolis, a 20-7 decision, ended with a postgame dust-up because Minnesota players circled their home goal post, denying UW players the traditional act of "chopping" it down.
A year later the Badgers clinched the West Division title at home with a 34-24 win. That gave way to a 31-21 win at TCF Bank Stadium in 2015 in which Ogunbowale ran for a career-high 155 yards on 33 carries.
A reporter asked Ogunbowale if he could hazard a guess as to what Gophers players are thinking right now.
"I know exactly what they're thinking," he said. "They want to be the team that gets the Axe back. They don't care about the past 12 years."
UW senior cornerback Sojourn Shelton's first Axe game, in 2013, ended with him on the shoulders of senior linebacker Chris Borland during the postgame reverie. Shelton was handed a whiteboard that celebrated the then-10-game win streak in the series.
"Probably one of my favorite moments," Shelton said.
In the days leading up to that game, Shelton and his teammates heard a message from J.J. Watt, the former UW All-American and current NFL standout, blare out over the main scoreboard.
The theme: "It's a game that we don't lose," Shelton recalled.
All the seniors expect a high-energy week getting ready for their long-time border rival. After all, a lot is on the line.
"This game is much more than the Axe now," Ogunbowale said.
