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For the Wisconsin seniors, tomorrow marks their final Big Ten game of their careers. A win will not only launch them over .500 for the first time in four weeks; it will also qualify them for a postseason bowl game. As far as conference standings go, the stakes will be high when Minnesota (7-3, 3-3 Big Ten) enters Camp Randall Stadium tomorrow afternoon, but the Badgers (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten) have only one thing on their minds: retaining Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

The annual Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle is the longest tenured rivalry in FBS college football. The Badgers are 34-24-3 against the Golden Gophers since the axe was added to the rivalry and have dominated their bordering rodents in recent memory, winning the past four matchups. No one on this Wisconsin roster has ever experienced an axe-less Madison, and none of them plan on giving it up any time soon.

“The axe sits in our trophy case, down in our locker room,” senior defensive tackle Mike Newkirk said. “It’s like if someone were to break into your home trying to take something that’s yours. You wouldn’t just let him walk out the front door with it.”

Last season, 8-3 Wisconsin traveled to the Metrodome to take on a struggling 1-10 Gopher team.

The Badgers barely survived, winning 41-34.

“Whenever you get a Minnesota game, you’ve got to throw away the records,” senior linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. “Like last year, they’re going to come out swinging no matter how good or bad they’re doing during the year; it’s going to be a competitive game.”

During his freshman season in 2005, Casillas’ fourth-quarter blocked punt was the difference in Wisconsin’s 38-34 comeback victory. Then-sophomore Ben Strickland fell on the ball in the end zone, giving the Badgers the lead.

“It’s a monument in my career,” Casillas said. “It’s a great play that boosted my career, and now it’s history forever.”

Wisconsin is coming off a convincing 55-20 win over Indiana, a game in which the UW defense held the Hoosiers scoreless for the entire second half. Three of the Badgers’ five losses this season were games in which they surrendered fourth-quarter leads.

“We’ve made monumental strides,” Casillas said. “We’ve grown a lot. We’ve made a lot of mistakes too, but we’ve learned from them, and we’ve definitely grown together as a team.”

Last season, Minnesota wide receiver Eric Decker torched the Wisconsin defense for 125 yards and two touchdowns while being defended often by now-Philadelphia Eagle Jack Ikegwuonu. Gophers head coach Tim Brewster, however, has said Decker will not play tomorrow because of a nagging high ankle sprain. The Badgers will believe it when they see it.

“He’s probably going to play because of the impact of this game,” Casillas said.

“We want their best team to come here, and that would include him,” Newkirk added. “So we hope he does play.”

Those unfamiliar with Paul Bunyan’s Axe may not understand its importance. But Newkirk, who grew up in Ladysmith, Wis. is fully aware if its significance.

“It means everything,” Newkirk said. “It’s something that’s concrete, it’s real. It gives the game a physical aspect. It’s a lot easier for guys to relate when they have something that they can carry around.”

“I didn’t get to grab it my freshman year,” Casillas said. “They kept it away from me, the seniors, but it felt good last year chopping the goalpost down in the Metrodome.”

For Casillas, the hardware is added incentive to leave everything out on the field.

“I just like getting that axe,” he said.

Tomorrow, he and his classmates will try and make it 4-for-4.