STrib: Rhys Lloyd recalls the day he won Paul Bunyan's Axe for the Gophers
The voice on the other end of the phone answered affably and with a British accent.
“Every year,’’ Rhys Lloyd said, laughing, “like clockwork.’’
It’s Gophers-Wisconsin week, and that means Lloyd is getting an annual chance to reminisce about a career kicking highlight, though it’s one he wouldn’t mind recalling on a not-so-yearly basis.
Lloyd, you see, was the key player in Minnesota’s last victory over Wisconsin, the last time a Gophers player earned the right to touch Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Fourteen consecutive times the Badgers have won the axe, and the Gophers on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium will try to end that streak before it reaches a decade and a half.
“That would be great,’’ the 36-year-old Lloyd said from his Orlando home.
Until that happens — this year’s Gophers (5-6, 2-6 Big Ten) are 10½-point underdogs to the Badgers (7-4, 5-3) — Lloyd’s big moment will be the most recent Minnesota highlight.
But what a highlight it was.
On Nov. 8, 2003, the 24th-ranked Gophers (8-2) met Wisconsin (6-3) in the Metrodome. Minnesota, with the backfield duo of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney, bolted to a 24-6 second-quarter lead, only to see the Badgers pull even, 34-34, with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter. After the teams traded punts, the Gophers got the ball back with 2:49 to play. With backup quarterback Benji Kamrath playing in place of injured Asad Abdul-Khaliq, the Gophers went on an 11-play march that set up Lloyd to win the game.
“I remember just feeling pretty confident,’’ said Lloyd, a junior then. “It was one of those days where the guys seemed different. Even when we went through adversity in losing some players, it didn’t faze anybody.’’
Adversity on that drive included a second-and-19 situation in which Kamrath first hit Jared Ellerson for 10 yards and Aaron Hosack for 22 to the Wisconsin 45-yard line with 1:21 left. “I got more and more confident as we were going down the field,’’ Lloyd said.
Runs of 13 and 11 yards by Barber and 3 by Maroney moved it to the Wisconsin 18. The Gophers called timeout with 1 second left and brought in Lloyd.
Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez used his team’s final timeout, trying to ice him.
“One of the players from Wisconsin started talking to me and tried to mess me up. And I responded with some stuff of my own,’’ Lloyd said. “All of the guys were like, ‘Just concentrate on what you’re doing.’ I said, ‘I’ve never been more confident. Let’s just do this.’ ’’
http://www.startribune.com/rhys-llo...-paul-bunyan-s-axe-for-the-gophers/501097771/
Go Gophers!!