MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The long-languishing football program at Minnesota has experienced plenty of potential breakthroughs over the last half-century, only to plateau or regress in the games and years that followed.

Well, the Gophers have arrived at another pivotal season.

With Paul Bunyan's Axe returned to that often-empty trophy case thanks to a dominant victory at rival Wisconsin that highlighted a strong finish to 2018, they've established a benchmark for success under coach third-year coach P.J. Fleck. The natural next step would be to win their Big Ten West Division title.