After a season of disappointment, Saturday provided a world of vindication for the UW football team. The Badgers scored the final 14 points of the game in a fourth-quarter comeback as they edged the rival Minnesota Gophers 49-31 to regain Paul Bunyan’s Axe and become bowl-eligible.

Behind Anthony Davis’s 301 yards on 45 carries, both career-highs, the Badgers outlasted the Gophers, and after the game ended the UW players, led by cornerback B.J. Tucker, raced across the Camp Randall turf to reclaim the giant axe that goes to the winner of the rivalry game.

Safety Jim Leonhard made two key interceptions late in the fourth quarter to halt Minnesota drives as the Gophers threatened to cut into UW’s lead. The picks gave Leonhard the national lead with 10 interceptions on the year, a UW record and the second-highest total in Big Ten history.

Davis ran strong all day, bouncing off tacklers and showcasing his speed and moves, and broke off a 72-yard TD run with less than two minutes remaining in the game to push him over the 300-yard mark for the first time in his career.

“I definitely wanted to try and play my best game today,” Davis said. “Things went well for me. Going into this game, I felt I needed to have a big game and be as much of a contributor as I could.”

Davis’ contributions helped the Badgers get the seventh win they required for bowl eligibility, a mark they had been after since opening 5-0. The win eased some of the sour feelings that developed during a 2-6 Big Ten campaign and ensured the Badgers wouldn’t miss a bowl game for the second year in a row.

“When you have a win, you enjoy it and you savor it,” UW head coach Barry Alvarez said. “[I’m] not satisfied with how the season went, but knowing we’ll get to a bowl game, our guys held together. It’s a young football team. We’ve got so many young guys that played and are going to be around here for a lot of years — I just think it’s good.”