Paul Bunyan's Axe

College Football Rivalries

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Wisconsin players with Paul Bunyan's Axe

Often called the Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe, the annual football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin marks the oldest rivalry in NCAA Division IA College Football. The first game was played on November 15, 1890 and has been played every year since 1907. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt canceled the game due to the violent outcomes recent college rivalry games had caused.

The 2005 game, which was won by Wisconsin on a blocked punt with 30 seconds left in regulation, marked the 115th meeting between the two teams. Minnesota leads the all-time series, 59-48-8, although Wisconsin has won nine of the last 11 meetings.

Though the series is often called the Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe, the Axe was not exchanged until 1948. Prior to this, the "Slab of Bacon" was the trophy. It was a piece of wood with the word "BACON" and an "M" or a "W" (depending upon how you held it) emblazoned on it. The idea was that the winner would "bring home the bacon."

In the 1940s, however, the slab went missing, and the W Club at UW created the Axe, the handle of which is six feet long and has every result of the series written on it.

Wisconsin officials estimate that the Slab of Bacon went missing in 1945, but when it was finally found in a storage closet at Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium in 1994, results for every game through 1970 had been mysteriously written on it.

[edit] All-Time Results