The University of Wisconsin gets mentioned twice on The Athletic's list of great college football rivalries. And there's a third from the Badger State.
Scott Dochterman of the Athletic took a comprehensive look at the best college-football rivalries, and Wisconsin actually appears in two such rivalries in the top 25.
Dochterman's process evaluated rivalries on a number of factors, including prominence (in a high-visibility conference), relevance (does it matter to the conference or the college-football world at large if they play each other?), frequency and proximity of schools.
Minnesota-Wisconsin, as you might imagine, ranks high on the list, all the way up at No. 10. The two teams first met in 1890 and have clashed 134 times — more than any other FBS pairing — with an even 63-63-8 record between the two programs, an annual battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe.
"Perhaps no other border feud contains the ecstasy of victory and misery in defeat like Minnesota-Wisconsin," Dochterman wrote. "They are codependent Big Ten rivals in every sense of the word. While the Badgers have been more successful the last three decades, the result of this game impacts how every season is remembered for both teams."
Dochterman noted that few traveling trophies carry the recognition of the Axe. Wisconsin is 7-0 in meetings when both teams were ranked, but Minnesota has won three of the last four and four of the last seven after UW went on a 15-game winning streak (and run of 23 out of 25).
What might surprise Badgers fans a little is seeing another rivalry, the battle with Iowa, listed at No. 22. The teams first met in 1894 and have squared off 98 times, with Wisconsin leading the series, 49-47-2, though Iowa has won four of the last five and each of the past three. The teams annually fight for the "Heartland Trophy," a brass bull.
"In perhaps the most overlooked great rivalry, these Upper Midwest programs combined for seven division titles and nine 10-win seasons over the Big Ten West’s 10-year existence," Dochterman wrote. "They are built with the same tenets of physicality and power, which make for some of college football’s hardest-hitting games."
It ranks 10 spots on the list ahead of Iowa's battle with nonconference (but intra-state) foe Iowa State.
But that's not the last of a Wisconsin program on the list.
At No. 90, we have the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union of Ohio, two schools that became powerhouses at the NCAA Division III level.
The two teams have only met 12 times and hadn't met at all until Sept. 7, 2002. But they often meet with national championships on the line and have each won six times. The teams met nine times for the title over an 11 year period and once in a national semifinal.
"Although selecting the most important game among nine championships is semi-futile, 2011 had legacy ramifications." Dochterman wrote. "Whitewater was going for its third straight title, all of which came at Mount Union’s expense. The game’s most important play came midway through the third quarter when Whitewater recovered a fumble on a sack at the 1-yard line. Whitewater punched in its only TD on the next play and held on 13-10."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-Minnesota and other football rivalries make Athletic's top 100
Category: General Sports
