Notre Dame and Wisconsin don’t meet often, but when they do, the ties between the programs run deep.
The schools first played in 1900, and though this is only their 18th meeting, the overlap between the Irish and the Badgers stretches across coaching staffs, championship teams and some of college football’s biggest names. They’ll add another chapter tonight when they open the season against each other at Lambeau Field on NBC and Peacock.
The strongest modern link sits right at the top: Luke Fickell and Marcus Freeman. Their relationship goes back to Freeman’s days as a linebacker at Ohio State from 2004-08, when Fickell coached him. Freeman later worked for Fickell from 2017 to 2020 at Cincinnati, serving as linebackers coach and defensive coordinator.
“The ones who have the most success like Marcus has are ones who create an identity for themselves, not just where they’ve been, whether it’s his time with us at Cincinnati or his time at Ohio State or his time under (former Ohio State coach) Jim Tressel,” Fickell said, according to the AP.
Freeman was just as direct about what Fickell meant to him.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” Freeman said. “I wouldn’t be in this position without the investment he made in me.”
That connection doesn’t stop with the head coaches. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli and wide receivers coach Mike Brown all worked on Fickell’s 2021 Cincinnati team that reached the College Football Playoff. Irish offensive line coach Joe Rudolph also has Wisconsin roots, having served as the Badgers’ offensive coordinator under Paul Chryst from 2015-20 and as offensive line coach in 2021.
The history between the programs reaches much further back. Harry Stuhldreher quarterbacked Notre Dame’s 1924 team, the one that won the Rose Bowl and the national championship.
That team’s famous backfield - Stuhldreher, fullback Elmer Layden and halfbacks Jim Crowley and Don Miller - became known as “The Four Horsemen” after Grantland Rice used the nickname following an upset of Army that season. Stuhldreher later coached Wisconsin from 1936-48 and was the school’s athletic director from 1936-50.
Another major bridge between the schools came through Barry Alvarez. Before becoming the winningest coach in Wisconsin history, he spent three seasons on Lou Holtz’s Notre Dame staff. He coached linebackers in 1987 and served as defensive coordinator from 1988-89, helping lead an Irish defense that finished third in the country in scoring defense and played a huge role in the 1988 national championship run.
Alvarez then took over at Wisconsin from 1990-2005 and built the program’s longest tenure and highest win total, finishing with 119 victories. He also guided the Badgers to three Big Ten titles, served as athletic director from 2004-2021 and stepped in as interim head coach in 2012 and 2014.
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Wisconsin Just Got An O-Line Reality Check Before Notre Dame
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Even so, the situation is a reminder that the Badgers may need to lean on some early flexibility up front, with the possibility of rotation at guard and right tackle if needed. Official injury reports do not come until conference play begins, so the full picture will stay a little cloudy for now, but Wisconsin already knows it may have to shuffle pieces before it can find its best five. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Gets An Early Reality Check Against Notre Dame
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The betting line says plenty about the size of the task, with Wisconsin listed as a 20.5-point underdog. For a program trying to sort out chemistry, roles and leadership in a hurry, opening against a playoff-caliber opponent leaves little room to ease in. It also gives the Badgers an immediate chance to see how far the offseason work has really carried them, and how much more there is to do once the lights come on. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Opens With A Lambeau Test That Could Set The Tone
Wisconsin will get an early measuring stick in 2026, and it will come in one of the most recognizable venues in the sport. The Badgers are set to open the season against Notre Dame on Sept. 6 at Lambeau Field, a marquee nonconference matchup that immediately gives Luke Fickells team a chance to show whether the roster overhaul is moving the program back in the right direction after a 4-8 finish in 2025.
There is plenty of curiosity around how that new-look group will come together, especially with quarterback Colton Joseph now in the mix. A season opener of this magnitude does more than draw attention nationally on NBC - it also puts Wisconsin under a spotlight usually reserved for November pressure games, and the way the Badgers handle it could say a lot about how far they have come since last fall. [Read more 🡒]