Former Wisconsin football coach named Minnesota's biggest archnemesis
Former Wisconsin football coach named Minnesota's biggest archnemesis
Jordon Lawrenz, Badgers WireWed, August 12, 2026 at 10:01 AM UTC
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When it comes to electric college football rivalries, look no further than Wisconsin vs. Minnesota.
Everyone knows how much it means to hold Paul Bunyan's Axe, and that's something that has eluded the Badgers in recent history.
That said, ESPN's Jake Trotter knows just how much of a thorn Wisconsin was in Minnesota's side from 2004 to 2017.
Trotter contributed to a piece that looks at every power conference team's "archnemesis", and in his piece about the Golden Gophers, it just so happened to be former Badgers coach Bret Bielema.
"While at Wisconsin, Bielema never lost to Minnesota, winning all seven meetings. Bielema's tenure came in the middle of the Badgers' 14-game winning streak in the rivalry, which kept Paul Bunyan's Axe in Madison from 2004 to 2017," he wrote.
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Further proving how much that rivalry meant to Bielema, Trotter focused on Wisconsin's meeting with Minnesota in 2010, where he decided to go for a two-point conversion, despite being up 25 points.
Sadly, Minnesota has won six of the last eight meetings since 2018, including four of the last five.
Wisconsin's last win may have come in 2023, but Bielema, who now coaches at Illinois, has a 3-1 record against the Golden Gophers with his Fighting Illini.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Former Wisconsin football coach named Minnesota's biggest archnemesis
Source: “AOL Sports”
