Wisconsin’s 2026 football slate opens with a statement game and closes with a rivalry date, and in between the Badgers will face a schedule loaded with new head coaches, familiar Big Ten foes and a trip to Lambeau Field that stands out from the rest.
The season starts Sunday, Sept. 6, when Wisconsin meets Notre Dame at 6:30 p.m. in Green Bay. The opener puts the Badgers in one of college football’s most iconic NFL venues against a Fighting Irish team that went 10-2 in 2025, finished on a 10-game winning streak and then withdrew from bowl consideration after missing the College Football Playoff bracket.
The matchup is part of the Shamrock Series and was originally slated for 2020 at Lambeau Field before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped it out. Notre Dame and Wisconsin later played at Soldier Field a year after that. It will be the first college game at Lambeau Field since Wisconsin faced LSU there in 2016.
Wisconsin stays close to home for its next two games. The Badgers host Western Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 6:15 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium, then welcome Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 11:30 a.m.
Western Illinois, a Football Championship Subdivision program, has finished 4-8 in each of the last two seasons and was 0-11 in both 2022 and 2023 before that. Joe Davis’ team last had a winning season in 2017 and opened the 2025 season with losses to Illinois, 52-3, and Northwestern, 42-7.
Eastern Michigan finished 4-8 overall and 1-5 away from home in 2025 under coach Chris Creighton, who is entering his 13th season.
Big Ten play begins on the road Sept. 26 at Penn State, where the time is still to be determined. The Nittany Lions are under new leadership with Matt Campbell taking over after James Franklin was fired following a disappointing 2025 season that ended 7-6 overall and 3-6 in conference play.
Campbell arrives after 10 years at Iowa State, where he won Big 12 Coach of the Year three times. Penn State’s starting quarterback, Rocco Bech, transferred from Iowa State as well.
Back at Camp Randall on Oct. 3, Wisconsin hosts Michigan State, another program with a new face on the sideline.
Pat Fitzgerald is back in the Big Ten after taking over the Spartans, who went 4-8 overall, 1-8 in league play and winless on the road in 2025. Michigan State’s last winning season came five years ago.
Fitzgerald spent 17 years at Northwestern from 2006-22, ranks 14th all time in wins among Big Ten coaches and was named Coach of the Year in 2018.
After a bye, the Badgers head west to face UCLA on Oct. 17 at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, with kickoff time still TBD. Bob Chesney is the Bruins’ new coach after two seasons at James Madison.
He was the Sun Belt Coach of the Year last season and led JMU to the College Football Playoff. UCLA has gone 3-6 in Big Ten play in each of its first two seasons in the conference.
USC comes to Madison on Oct. 24, also with a TBD start time. Lincoln Riley’s Trojans enter Year 3 in the Big Ten ranked 14th nationally after going 9-4 overall and 7-2 in league play in 2025. Wisconsin last faced USC in 2024, the Trojans’ first year in the conference, and USC pulled away with 28 unanswered second-half points in a 38-21 win.
The calendar flips to Oct. 31 for a road trip to Iowa City, where Wisconsin will try to end a four-game skid against Kirk Ferentz and Iowa. The Hawkeyes have won the last two meetings in lopsided fashion, 42-10 in 2024 and 37-0 last season.
Ferentz is entering his 28th year at Iowa, and the program has posted 13 straight winning seasons. Iowa finished 9-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten in 2025, capped by a ReliaQuest Bowl win over Vanderbilt.
Rutgers visits Camp Randall on Nov. 7, and Wisconsin will try to stay unbeaten in the all-time series at 6-0. Every Badgers win over the Scarlet Knights has come by double figures. Greg Schiano’s Rutgers team finished 2-7 in Big Ten play last season, the same conference mark Wisconsin posted in 2025.
Wisconsin goes back on the road Nov. 14 to face Maryland at SECU Stadium in College Park. The Badgers will be looking for revenge after last season’s 27-10 loss, which was Wisconsin’s first defeat to the Terrapins in the series.
Maryland’s win was also its only Big Ten victory of the season. The Terrapins finished 4-8 overall and 1-8 in conference play.
On Nov. 21, Wisconsin heads to Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette to take on Purdue.
The Boilermakers have been in a deep slide, going winless in the Big Ten in each of the last two years and 3-22 overall. Barry Odom is in his second season as Purdue’s head coach.
The regular season ends Friday, Nov. 27, when Wisconsin hosts Minnesota at 6:30 p.m. in the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. The Badgers and Golden Gophers close the year at Camp Randall, where P.J.
Fleck’s team has had the upper hand recently, winning the last two meetings and four of the last five. Minnesota has gone 8-5 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play in each of the last two seasons.
In Other News...
Wisconsin May Have Found A Passing Game Option Fans Didn't Expect
Wisconsins summer camp has started to offer a glimpse at a passing-game wrinkle the Badgers might not have expected when Jacob Harris arrived from Bowling Green. The transfer has been working through practices as a receiving option, and his combination of size and mobility has already made him noticeable in a room still taking shape as the offense sorts out who can help stretch the field and create matchup problems.
Harris has flashed enough in recent workouts to suggest the coaches may have more than a depth-piece on their hands, but the exact plan for him is still unsettled. What stands out so far is that Wisconsin keeps giving him opportunities near the goal line, a sign there could be a real role waiting if he keeps turning those chances into production. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Already Has A Response To Dilin Jones Rising At LSU
Wisconsins offseason roster churn sent 23 players into the transfer portal, and one of the more notable departures was running back Dilin Jones, who landed at LSU with a chance to carve out a bigger role. His early buzz in Baton Rouge has only added to the interest around that move, especially for a Badgers program that had to remake parts of its depth chart and could have been vulnerable at a spot where talent and durability matter.
Instead, Wisconsin has already answered by reinforcing the room with both transfers and recruits, giving the staff more options as it looks to move on from last years departures. The Badgers believe they have enough depth in place to absorb the loss, even as Jones works to push for a starting job at LSU, and that makes this one of those transfer storylines that could linger well beyond August. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin May Finally Have The Receiver Its Offense Has Been Missing
During a recent Wisconsin practice, Eugene Hilton turned in one of the sharper receiving performances of the day and gave the Badgers something their offense has been searching for. Working with quarterback Colton Joseph, Hilton repeatedly found ways to get open and flashed the kind of separation and ball skills that can change how a passing game is defended, especially for a team that still wants to lean heavily on the run.
The bigger takeaway is not that Wisconsin is suddenly turning into a pass-first attack, because it is not, but that the offense may finally have a receiver who can make the passing game more than just an occasional supplement. Hiltons ability to win in traffic and finish plays added a different layer to practice, and for a group looking for reliable targets, those glimpses carry real weight even if the run game remains the foundation. [Read more 🡒]