Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin: Notes to Know Ahead of the Season-Opener

Contrary to popular belief, Notre Dame and Wisconsin will not battle for a rivalry trophy in the likeness of Jack Coan or Barry Alvarez this Sunday night, but will play in one of football's greatest venues - Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

It's the second time these two have met in a Shamrock Series game, the first coming in 2021 at Soldier Field in Chicago, when Notre Dame rattled off 31 straight fourth-quarter points to beat the Badgers, 41-13.

While that was fun, Sunday promises to be its own chapter as both teams start seasons they hope will define their head coaches careers.

For Notre Dame, it's about finally getting over the final hurdle and knocking down the national championship door for the first time since 1988, while for Wisconsin, the growing pains are supposed to be over and a friendlier schedule should allow the Badgers to take a step back in the right direction under Luke Fickell.

With those storylines in mind, here are a few game notes courtesy of the great folks in both the Notre Dame and Wisconsin sports information departments.

Notre Dame vs Wisconsin - All-Time Series History

Sunday night will be the 18th all-time meeting between Notre Dame and Wisconsin. The Fighting Irish hold a slight edge, 9-6-2. Notre Dame won the last two meetings, including the 2021 matchup at Soldier Field, 41-13. The meeting previous to that was all the way back in 1964 when Notre Dame routed the Badgers 31-7 at Camp Randall, in Ara Parseghian's first game as head coach.

Notre Dame-Wisconsin Coaching Connections

Marcus Freeman was Luke Fickell's DC at Cincinnati.

The Wisconsin head coach was asked about the Notre Dame coach leading up to their big Week 1 matchup at Lambeau Field. pic.twitter.com/9dG9vBpo2G
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) August 31, 2026

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was the defensive coordinator on Luke Fickell's staff at Cincinnati before departing for Notre Dame in 2021. Also on that Cincinnati staff were offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli, and wide receivers coach Mike Brown.

Notre Dame Coaches Who Coached and/or Played at Wisconsin

A few more Notre Dame assistants called Wisconsin home in different ways previously. Chris Ash was previously a defensive coordinator for the Badgers while offensive line coach Joe Rudolph held the same position at Wisconsin after starring on its 1994 team that went to the Rose Bowl. Finally, defensive backs coach Aaron Henry was a two-time All Big Ten selection for the Badgers.

Notre Dame All-Time vs Big Ten Opponents

Sunday will be Notre Dame's 512 all-time game against a Big Ten opponent. It has gone 319-170-22 in the previous 511 and 19-9-3 against Big Ten schools on neutral fields.

Wisconsin's Return to Lambeau Field

Despite the rich history of the Green Bay Packers, the Badgers don't have much of a history at Lambeau Field. Wisconsin has played just one game there previously, upsetting No. 5 LSU to open the 2016 season, in which Wisconsin would go on to win the Cotton Bowl.

New Look Badgers for 2026

Part of the reason for hope for Wisconsin in 2026 after a disappointing 2025 is because of how active the team was in the transfer portal. Wisconsin added 34 players via the portal, the third most of any team in the Big Ten.

Former Sun Belt Star QBs Badgers

The most important of those 34 players is quarterback Colton Joseph, who comes to Wisconsin after winning the Sun Belt's Offensive Player of the Year award. He threw for over 2,000 yards while rushing for more than 1,000 in 2025.

Easier 2025 Outlook for Wisconsin?

Wisconsin should get some schedule relief by default in 2026 after facing 10 teams that qualified for bowl games last year.

Fixing Wisconsin's Offensive Woes

A season ago, Wisconsin's offense was putrid, reaching the 20-point mark just twice all year. Once in a 42-10 rout of Middle Tennessee State, and the other in a 27-10 victory over Illinois.

CJ Carr Leads Notre Dame Offense

In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we remember Chad Carr and the laughter and happiness he brought into the world.🎗️@13Cjcarr | @ND_HCTI pic.twitter.com/PhHuVrup0k
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 1, 2026

Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr enters the year as a Heisman Trophy favorite. His 9.35 yards per pass attempt were second in the nation last season, while his 14.06 yards per completion were fourth best.

Notre Dame's Preseason Hype

Notre Dame's No. 4 ranking in the preseason AP Poll is the highest Notre Dame has been ranked to start a year since being No. 2 in 2006. Meanwhile, this is the third-straight season Wisconsin has begun the year unranked.

Notre Dame's Dominating Close to 2025

Notre Dame won its last 10 games of the 2025 season after starting the year 0-2. It's the first time in over 100 years that a Notre Dame team has won 10 straight games all by 10 or more points (1921 into 1922).

Notre Dame's Middle Eight Domination

Coaches often talk about the middle eight of a game and how important it is to control the final four minutes before halftime as well as the first four minutes out of the break. Marcus Freeman has discussed this from jump street and his team has followed, outscoring teams 403-117, a +286 margin and average difference of +5.3 points per game since he was named head coach.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Some of these numbers matter in regards to what will happen Sunday night while others are nothing more than fun to look at from a historical context.

What I was reminded of when going through the game notes for both teams was that too much time spent on any team site will quickly have you thinking 12-0 is a guarantee and that anything short of a trip to the national semifinal will be a disappointment.

In the case of Notre Dame in 2026 though, anything less than that should be considered a major malfunction.

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