A historic return to Lambeau Field
On Sunday, September 6 at 6:30 p.m., the Wisconsin Badgers will travel to Lambeau Field to open their 2026 season against the fifth‑ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Shamrock Series, marking the first college football game at the iconic stadium in ten years.
The matchup is part of a doubleheader broadcast on NBC, which also includes Washington State versus Washington and Louisville versus Ole Miss, with streaming available on Peacock, and it comes after a 2020 COVID‑19 cancellation that kept the venue empty for a full season.
Wisconsin enters the contest as a 20.5‑point underdog after finishing 4‑8 the previous year, while Notre Dame, though victorious in its 2023 campaign, lost its opening two games and is eager to regain early momentum.
The Badgers’ schedule this fall features three nonconference opponents—Western Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Penn State—making the Notre Dame showdown the immediate focal point of their early slate.
Lambeau’s memory of a 2016 upset over fifth‑ranked LSU, a 16‑14 victory that demonstrated the venue’s capacity for dramatic comebacks, adds a layer of optimism for Wisconsin fans hoping to replicate that magic against Notre Dame.