Border Battle 2013-14

[year of the gopher]

Didn't see this elsewhere so I thought I'd note here that the Gophers clinched the Border Battle competition between athletic departments over the weekend. They hold a 460-180 lead with 240 points remaining.

This gives the U 6 of the first 10 border battles. On top of that, in the years we've won, we've dominated with the exception of a squeaker in 2010-11. Not including the current incomplete year, our average margin of victory has been 174 points. The 4 years Wisconsin has won, on the other hand, they've had an average margin of victory of just 25 points.

Some may only care about football (where we haven't earned any points in the last 10 years) and may disregard this if they don't care about non-revenue sports. But it's clear that across all common sports Minnesota has a very solid lead in this rivalry. I would argue this demonstrates that we have the superior athletic department already with an incredible amount of growth opportunity in men's basketball and football.

Ski-U-Mah!

http://www.gophersports.com/ot/border-battle.html

 

[highwayman]

The only sport that really matters is baseball. How are the Badgers stacking up this year? Better hitting or better pitching?

 

[BucktheFadgers]

Buck the Fadgers.

 

[WAGopher]

The only sport that really matters is baseball. How are the Badgers stacking up this year? Better hitting or better pitching?

I wouldn't worry about Badger Baseball. They haven't won a game in 23 years, they don't have a pitcher on their roster and their hitting is non-existent. Their players don't go to class and their coaches are nowhere to be found. UW is so embarrassed they removed all mention of the baseball team from their website.

 

[year of the gopher]

I wouldn't worry about Badger Baseball. They haven't won a game in 23 years, they don't have a pitcher on their roster and their hitting is non-existent. Their players don't go to class and their coaches are nowhere to be found. UW is so embarrassed they removed all mention of the baseball team from their website.

Well put!

 

[MadtownGopher]

This thing is kind of meaningless, but I still love that we've now taken 5 of the last 6.

 

[FreakyDeke]

This thing is kind of meaningless, but I still love that we've now taken 5 of the last 6.

It's only meaningless if they win 5 of 6

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

The sweep in swimming & tennis was worth 160 points alone.

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

Wisconsin should always start off at negative 100 points every Border Battle season, simply because they have no baseball program. Why do they hate America so much? And no, Title IX is not a valid excuse.

That possibly ludicrous opinion aside, I look to the Border Battle as a a way to gauge the overall health of the athletic programs relative to our hated rivals in Madison. Revenue sports haven't been our bag for quite sometime, but I am sensing the winds of change in the air...

 

[die hard gopher]

What did we beat Wisconsin in over the weekend?

 

[year of the gopher]

Wisconsin should always start off at negative 100 points every Border Battle season, simply because they have no baseball program. Why do they hate America so much? And no, Title IX is not a valid excuse.

That possibly ludicrous opinion aside, I look to the Border Battle as a a way to gauge the overall health of the athletic programs relative to our hated rivals in Madison. Revenue sports haven't been our bag for quite sometime, but I am sensing the winds of change in the air...

Precisely! We've had the better of them in overall programs in most recent years despite football and men's basketball mostly losing (sometimes splitting in hoops, yes) through those seasons.

 

[year of the gopher]

What did we beat Wisconsin in over the weekend?

Nothing this weekend. We're in the in-between spring sports phase where outdoor competition hasn't started but the indoor stuff is basically done. Nothing else coming until the first weekend in April.

 

[die hard gopher]

Border Battle competition between athletic departments over the weekend.

so then what happened?

 

[Cayman]

so then what happened?

The post you quoted is nearly a week old, so whatever he was referring to likely happened two weekends ago. However, last Thursday Minnesota beat Wisconsin in the first round of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament, but maybe that doesn't count because it wasn't a regular season matchup.

 

[year of the gopher]

so then what happened?

You quoted the last part of a sentence from the original post, well done. Your point is?

 

[Deleted_User]

Wisconsin is 6th in the Directors cup with Minnesota at 32nd, not that I mind the Border Battle point system.

 

[year of the gopher]

Wisconsin is 6th in the Directors cup with Minnesota at 32nd, not that I mind the Border Battle point system.

For Fall 2013, yes. That's not a measure of the whole year and is a different type of competition entirely.

The Border Battle measures head to head results in all common sports between the two schools.

EDIT: For 2012-13, Wisconsin ranked 29th for the full year. Minnesota ranked 22nd. http://thedirectorscup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/June27release.pdf

 

[year of the gopher]

Directors Cup Final Standings per http://thedirectorscup.com/current-standings1/:

2013: Minnesota 22nd, Wisconsin 29th
2012: Minnesota 22nd, Wisconsin 26th
2011: Wisconsin 26th, Minnesota 29th
2010: Minnesota 18th, Wisconsin 21st
2009: Minnesota 14th, Wisconsin 41st

So, 4 of the last 5 years we finished ahead in the Directors Cup standings as well.