Why Notre Dame Rolls Past Wisconsin in the Opener

The wait is finally almost over for Notre Dame football.

Nine full months after being left out of the College Football Playoff, step one of the 2026 regular season takes place Sunday night at Lambeau Field, with the Wisconsin Badgers looking to ruin the revenge tour.

Notre Dame enters as a sizeable favorite, but we've seen this program struggle in September under Marcus Freeman.

Why does Notre Dame avoid any upset Wisconsin hopes to pull on it and start the year 1-0?

Here are five reasons why the Fighting Irish walk out of Lambeau Field with a 1-0 record after leaving their mark on America's Dairyland.

Notre Dame vs Wisconsin - 5. Decided Quarterback Advantage

I hate when so much is made out of quarterback play when its not the actual story of a game, but when Notre Dame enters a game with little experience at running back, more will be asked of CJ Carr. Heck, 2026 should see more from CJ Carr all year long, as he's gone from a talented freshman to a Heisman Trophy favorite.

This isn't a knock on Wisconsin starter Colton Joseph, who was a 2,000 yard passer and 1,000 rusher last year at Old Dominion, but the Notre Dame defense he faces isn't built for the Sun Belt. This might be the best defense in the country (more on that later).

I don't expect Carr to play perfect, but I trust him to not make mistakes, and eventually make a couple really big throws and leave his mark even if his numbers aren't amazing.

Notre Dame's talent at several positions is clear, and quarterback is certainly one of those.

Notre Dame vs Wisconsin - 4. Outstanding Irish Offensive Line

Notre Dame should have its best offensive line in a few years, which is saying something for a program that calls itself O Line U. Short yardage was a significant issue for Notre Dame last season, and even without Jeremiyah Love or Jadarian Price in the backfield, it seems to be a place of improvement according to offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock.

Notable to me from offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock when asked about being better in short yardage in camp:

"Our defense has done everything you can possibly imagine to try to take it away from us, and they haven't been able to do it yet."

That feels significant.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 2, 2026

Wisconsin had a solid defense in 2025 despite going just 4-8, but how does its defensive front handle Notre Dame?

I don't expect Notre Dame to simply run all over Wisconsin by any stretch of the imagination. The Badgers have a couple of extremely talented young linebackers in Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano.

They won't make life easy, but as the game goes on I expect to see body blows add up and Notre Dame's offensive line to take over and go from being in comfortable control to running away on the scoreboard.

Notre Dame vs Wisconsin - 3 & 2. When Badgers Have the Ball...

Wisconsin went portal heavy this off-season, adding 34 players from it to the 2026 roster. I say that to say that everything from 2025 doesn't translate to 2026 to this team, but let's not pretend this is suddenly going to be one of the better offenses in the Big Ten.

The Wisconsin offense averaged 12.8 points per game last season, the second worst in all of FBS. No, that's not a mistype - Wisconsin failed to score 20 points in all but two games last season.

It can be improved significantly and still be well short of average.

Notre Dame's defense on the other hand has perhaps the best linebackers in the country as well as defensive backs. My biggest question about it, the interior of the defensive line, is what Marcus Freeman has spoke the most positively of this preseason.

Add it all together and if Notre Dame gets an early lead and forces Wisconsin to have to start throwing, this thing has the chance to get really ugly thanks to a Fighting Irish defense that likes to take the ball away.

Notre Dame vs Wisconsin - 1. Leave No Doubt

Notre Dame's mantra since being left out of the College Football Playoff was to "Leave no doubt" and not let anyone have an option but to put it in the CFP this coming season.

After nine months of talking about leaving no doubt, Notre Dame gets its first chance to against someone else on Sunday night in the Mecca of professional football.

It's hard to predict how a group of 18 to 22 year old males will be in terms of focus and energy in each of the 12 games of a regular season, but having an entire off-season to sit in sludge and feel the anger over how last season ended, I have little doubt you will get a Notre Dame team that comes out with its hair on fire Sunday.

In order for a team like Wisconsin to give Notre Dame a fight into the fourth quarter, it needs Notre Dame to shoot itself in the foot and look like its in a daydream for a large part of the night.

For all the reasons stated in this section, I simply don't see that happening.

Wisconsin is a faceless opponent in this case. It just happened to draw the short straw and takes one on the chin as Notre Dame starts its revenge tour in a big way.

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