Source: College football's most-played rivalry is moving to Black Friday, as the battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe will take place on Nov. 29.

The Heroes Game will be in primetime for the first time, too.

🪓 Minnesota at Wisconsin, noon ET (CBS)
🇺🇸 Nebraska at Iowa, 7:30 ET (NBC)

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) May 30, 2024

Minnesota vs Wisconsin is the oldest rivalry in college football going all the way back to 1890. It’s something I dove deep into a few years ago, when the rivalry was almost cancelled for the first time in over a century.

Related: How Good is New Gophers QB Max Brosmer?

The Badgers beat the Gophers last season, which allowed them to climb on top of the all-time matchup by one win. Wisconsin now holds the lead in the historic rivalry 63-62-8 so PJ Fleck and his new crew (led by QB Max Brosmer) will try to even the matchup back up and get the Axe into the trophy case where it rightfully belongs.

The Minnesota Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers football teams have met on the American gridiron for 113 consecutive seasons, dating back to 1907. We thought that streak was over earlier this season when “The Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe” was canceled thanks to “the invisible enemy”.

Still, everyone held out hope for the one week that remained empty on the Big Ten football schedule: “Champions Week”. Everyone has called for Gophers vs Badgers season finale and rumors have been flying for weeks. But tomorrow, we find out what the matchups for Big Ten football’s, “Champions Week” will be.

Minnesota @ Wisconsin for #114 in a row looks to be all but official.

#Badgers AD Barry Alvarez tells athletic board football match-up for Champions Week will be set on Sunday. Game likely at CRS. (I expect it to be Minnesota).

— Jeff Potrykus (@jaypo1961) December 11, 2020

via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Jeff Potrykus):

Alvarez reiterated he hopes to see UW host Minnesota. The teams’ regular-season meeting, set for Nov. 28 at Camp Randall Stadium, was called off on Nov. 24 because of rising coronavirus numbers in the Gophers’ program. 

“Both Minnesota and us have lobbied to be able to play that game and continue the longest ongoing rivalry in college football,” Alvarez told the athletic board. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get that done.

“If we play, the game probably will be here at Camp Randall.”

It would be a crying shame, should this game not be played next weekend. There’s really no reason for the Big Ten to get this wrong and I think that’s why there’s so much optimism it will happen.

At the end of the day, especially in 2020, nothing is official until it is official but you should expect an announcement by the end of this weekend and you can expect the Gophers’ opponent to be the Badgers.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan