Minnesota won back Paul Bunyan’s Axe on Friday with a dominant performance on the road.

Behind 143 rushing yards from Darius Taylor, 2 touchdown passes from Max Brosmer, and a stifling defensive performance, the Gophers handled Wisconsin for a 24-7 victory. Minnesota ends the regular season 7-5 while denying Wisconsin a bowl game for the first time since 2001.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

Max Brosmer closes on a high note

Minnesota’s quarterback ended the regular season with one of his better performances of the year. The 152.5 quarterback rating he posted was the fourth-best of the season. He took just 1 sack, ran for a touchdown, threw for 2 more, and didn’t turn it over.

Brosmer found Daniel Jackson for a 7-yard score in the second quarter to double the Gophers’ lead. He hit Jameson Geers for a 15-yard score in the third quarter to put the Gophers up 21-0 and effectively hammer the nail into the Badgers’ coffin.

The former New Hampshire quarterback had his ups and downs this season, but he’ll exit the season with a career-best 67% completion rate and a career-low 5 interceptions. It’s a shame we don’t get to see more of the Brosmer-to-Jackson connection, but both probably have NFL futures.

Gopher defense dominates

It turns out the Oregon loss was not the bottom for the Wisconsin offense. Against the Gophers on Friday, Wisconsin found a new low.

Wisconsin finished with just 166 total yards. The Badgers had only 36 net rushing yards.

It was the worst single-game rushing performance for Wisconsin since Oct. 1, 2022. And it was the worst overall day on offense for Wisconsin since producing just 159 yards in a loss to Michigan on Oct. 1, 2016.

Minnesota finished with 4 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. It also had 10 pass breakups. UW quarterback Braedyn Locke completed just 15 of his 32 passes for 130 yards. Wisconsin didn’t turn the football over, but that was more luck considering how many balls Gopher defenders got their hands on.

Wisconsin was 3-for-13 on third down and averaged just 3.1 yards per play on first down. The average distance on all Badger third-down attempts was 9.9 yards. In every way, this was a flat performance from the Badgers in the face of a Minnesota front that just imposed its will at the line of scrimmage all game.

Luke Fickell has a massive headache to deal with

Wisconsin will miss a bowl game for the first time in over 2 decades. The last time the Badgers finished with a losing record in a football season, Apple’s iTunes marketplace was in its first year of existence and the first Lord of the Rings movie hadn’t yet hit theaters.

Fickell fired Phil Longo on Nov. 17, a day after the 16-13 home loss to Oregon. Longo cannot be the only move Fickell makes this offseason. Frankly, everything should be on the table.

Prior to the year, Fickell promised progress. Instead Wisconsin went backward. It gave up 40 points each to Iowa and Nebraska. With the exception of the Oregon game, it was non-competitive against the ranked teams it played. The Minnesota loss marks 5 straight defeats to end the year.

It’s not just the offense. Fickell has to make changes across the board or the job that will soon be on the line is his own.