Wisconsin Badgers vs Minnesota Golden Gophers Match Player Stats On Nov 23, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 23, 2013

No. 17 Wisconsin 20, No. 23 Minnesota 7: James White ran for 125 yards and a touchdown and the visiting Badgers dominated defensively to win Paul Bunyan's Axe for the 10th straight time.

Joel Stave completed 16-of-26 passes for 127 yards and a score for Wisconsin (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten), which boosted its resume as it pursues an at-large BCS berth. The Badgers outgained the Golden Gophers by a 324-185 margin to improve to 57-58-8 in the most played rivalry in FBS.

Philip Nelson, who completed 63 percent of his passes and threw for seven touchdowns during Minnesota's four-game winning streak, was just 7-for-23 for 83 yards. The Gophers (8-3, 4-3), who lost three fumbles, got their only points on a 39-yard interception return by linebacker Aaron Hill that gave the hosts an early 7-3 advantage.

Moments after Hill's touchdown, Wisconsin utilized a Nelson fumble to go back on top on White's 1-yard run and then added a late field goal to carry a 13-7 advantage into halftime. Stave was 6-for-6 for 68 yards on the opening drive of the second half, which lasted over seven minutes and resulted in a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jared Abbrederis to make it 20-7.

David Cobb, who ran for 68 yards, fumbled the ball away on the very next play from scrimmage for Minnesota and Nelson later overthrew an open receiver on a fourth-and-six at the Badgers 31 with under 12 minutes left. The Gophers drove into the red zone with five minutes to go but turned it over on downs and Wisconsin was able to run out the clock.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The temperature at kickoff was 17 degrees with a wind chill of 3 degrees. ... Abbrederis' TD moved him into a tie with Tony Simmons for second on the Wisconsin career list with 23. ... Wisconsin LB Chris Borland tied the Big Ten record with the 14th forced fumble of his career, which also temporarily tied the FBS mark until Buffalo's Khalil Mack picked up his 15th, also on Saturday.