Luke Fickell Weighs in on Blockbuster Opener vs. Notre Dame

Everyone knows what awaits Wisconsin football in Week 1.

And this year, it's not Western Michigan or Miami of Ohio.

The Badgers will kick off the 2026 campaign against a Notre Dame team almost guaranteed to be ranked in the top five of the AP poll to start the season. But this is no ordinary Week 1 out-of-conference matchup; the game will be played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, one of football's most storied cathedrals.

Despite what should be a significantly easier schedule, Wisconsin must be ready to face what's expected to be one of the best teams in the country immediately. Besides the Notre Dame brand, which is good for a preseason top-15 ranking regardless what the roster looks like, the Fighting Irish boast one of the nation's best returning quarterbacks in CJ Carr and an elite defense anchored by arguably the best secondary in the country.

How Notre Dame changes Wisconsin's approach

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"I tell you what, it's a great opportunity for us as a football program. I think for us in general, we know
darn well where we've been the last couple years. To have the focus of what it is going to be on Week 1, September 6th, not only that it's in Lambeau Field, I think it's helped me as a coach recognize some of the things we have to continue to evolve to be able to do," Fickell said at the podium during Big Ten Media Days.

Since he arrived in Madison, Fickell has stressed the idea of playing your best ball at the end of the season. One could argue his teams haven't played their best ball at all, at any part of the season. But while Fickell is still a staunch supporter of that mindset, he recognizes that opening the season against Notre Dame requires a different level of focus and attention to detail in fall camp.

"We all know this, November is where it's won. You have to play your best ball at the end of the year," he continued, before conceding that "You have to come out of the gates and be able to play really well and at a high level, especially when you're going to play games like this to kick the season off."

There's a lot of discourse about how many Power Four teams other Power Four teams should play in this day and age. Strength of schedule, now that College Football Playoff resumes are a weekly talking point, is a big deal.

As a Big Ten program, Wisconsin shouldn't have to worry about facing enough big-time opponents year-in and year-out. But in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Fickell has had to line up against Alabama twice and will face Notre Dame in just over a month. That's a pretty brutal out-of-conference stretch.

"We know that schedules are created so far in advance. I'm not telling you that this was one of those things that I said, 'Hey, this is what we should do.' But it's in front of us. It gives us a great opportunity to say, 'Hey, there's an incredible focus as we roll into camp because we know it's going to start in the kickoff of September 6th,''' Fickell continued.

Reading in between the lines of those comments, the coach understands the enormous opportunity to burst onto the national spotlight in Week 1, but he's also not advocating for playing a blue-blood in the out-of-conference slate each and every season. Fickell certainly isn't running from this matchup, but it also doesn't sound like he's promoting playing a top-15 team in September every fall.

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