Quote Originally Posted by dpodoll68
"The team just won its 4th consecutive Big Ten game for the first time since the Nixon Administration. We are about to host Wisconsin with both teams 6 games over .500 for the first time since the Teddy Roosevelt Administration. Let that sink in for a moment."
Actually, the lack of a "both teams 6 games over .500" situation in the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry isn't nearly as startling as it might seem. Remember that until the 1970s most teams played a nine-game schedule, or even less in the early 20th-century. That means that both teams would have had to be 8-0 or 7-1 going into the last game of the season. That almost happened twice, in 1954 and in 1962. In 1954 (the Bob McNamara vs. Alan Ameche year) the Gophers were 7-1 and the Badgers were 6-2. Wisconsin won 27-0. In 1962, coming off the Gophers' back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances, Minnesota was 6-1-1 and Wisconsin was 6-2, with the Big 10 championship on the line. Wisconsin won 14-9, with game turning on a horrendous roughing-the-passer call on Bobby Bell.
Both of those games are good benchmarks against which to match this year's, even if the shorter season made for slightly lower winning percentages.