But then...a little history intervened. Back in 2007, when favored Wisconsin struggled to hold off the Gophers in Minneapolis and Badgers coach Bret Bielema was unhappy at what he called Minnesota's "rough play." "You want a rivalry, you got one," he yapped at the media afterward.

Did Bielema, who has kept the Badgers in the national ratings pretty regularly since, tuck that little incident away for future reference? Like, say, Sat., Oct. 9 - Minnesota at Wisconsin? Depends on who you ask.

Up by four scores, one would wonder, why would Bielema go for two points instead of the standard-issue P.A.T. kick?

Right. Wonder no more, if you're a cherry-red clad media cheerleader. "The card says so," Bielema dredged up as a post-game excuse.

Excuse us? The big magic markered gameplan card you hide your face behind while shouting instructions? The jack of spades at Ho-Chunk? Or mama June's tarot card?

Whatever it was, S.B. Nation blogger Andy Hutchins wasn't buyin'. "I don't really respect "The card says so" defense Bielema employs -- Wisconsin could have kicked a PAT, gone up by 26 and sparked no controversy," Hutchins wrote.

"But I don't have much sympathy for Brewster's Gophers," he continued. "It's hard to feel for a (1-5) team whose only win this year came against Middle Tennessee State, and Brewster will likely be able to tell everyone on the unemployment line how wrong Bielema was before long..."

That the Badgers missed the two-pointer and Minnesota pulled back within a 41-23 final score mattered only to the wizeguys.

But when Brewster, in his fourth year in Minneapolis, met with Bielema at midfield afterward, it wasn't to sing a chorus of "Koom-Ba-Yah." According to St. Paul Pioneer-Press writer Marcus Fuller, "Michael Wilbon (co-host of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption") said he'd have been fine with Brewster 'punching' Bielema at the post game handshake."

But if the offended were looking for Bielema to aim a mea culpa or two back over the Mississippi, that wasn't happening.

"I'd do it a million times over," he told the Wisconsin media. "Probably the most shocking is that it got any play to the level it did. I don't know if it was a slow media day or what."

Next year, the game is in the Gophers' new digs. If Brewster survives the wrath of Gopher nation and makes it back, the crowd won't have to wait til after the final gun for the fireworks.

COMPARATIVE NOTES DEPT. -- Back in 1994, Penn State, in its second Big Ten season, was presenting a compelling case as the nation's best team. Until it blew Indiana off its own field for three and a half quarters, then coughed and spurtled its way to a 35-29 victory against the league's perennial bottom-feeder, Indiana.

Despite the Nittany Lions' impressive 12-0 finish, they finished second to Nebraska in both The Associated Press and USA Today polls, which put the Cornhuskers in prime position to make off with the national championship, which they did.

When new No. 1 Ohio State took on a feisty Indiana team at Ohio Stadium last Saturday, some longtime observers recalled the Lions' similar position 16 years ago.

When you envision two of college football's greatest coaches -- Ohio State's Jim Tressel and the Nitts' legendary octagenarian, Joe Paterno -- you get two very different personalities and outlooks.

Hard to argue with either's approach. But where the Lions let up in Bloomington, the Buckeyes didn't give I.U. much of a whiff of competitiveness until Tres pulled the first string late in the third quarter. He probably had little or no recollection of Penn State's 1994 adventures, but he'd made sure the Bucks stayed focused on the moment, as word of Alabama falling behind South Carolina wafted northward to Columbus.

"When you look at the Top Ten week to week," he told The Columbus Dispatch, "the precarious nature of any ranking is obvious -- just review the change in the makeup of the Top Ten between the beginning of the season and now.

"The Buckeyes know what it's like to have a target on our back, especially since we are now well into Big Ten play.

"We expect that every team will give us its best shot. How we respond will determine our ultimate ranking."

Never truer than Saturday night in Madison, always a tough visit for the Buckeyes.