We've heard a lot of rumblings about Wisconsin opening the 2016 season against LSU in Lambeau Field, including LSU's athletic director saying so on Wednesday. But there was always one obstacle to that: the Badgers' planned 2016 game against Virginia Tech.
Problem solved. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Jeff Potrykus reports that the game against the Hokies, which had been scheduled for Sept. 10, 2016, in Blacksburg, will be moved back. Wisconsin and Virginia Tech will now play in 2019 and 2020, though dates of the games haven't been announced (and they should be considered as written in pencil, anyway, as Wisconsin was originally scheduled to play Virginia Tech way back in 2008 before pushing that one back).
The move clears the way for that opener against LSU on Sept. 3, 2016, in Lambeau Field. The two teams will also open 2014 at Houston's Reliant Stadium.
The '16 game in Lambeau will be undeniably cool, and tickets will likely be in high demand. Credit the Badgers for greatly upgrading their nonconference schedules and taking on this challenge (as well as a 2015 game vs. Alabama).
It's still a long way away, but Wisconsin had better be ready for what is now an incredibly daunting 2016 schedule. The Badgers' first five Big Ten games that year look like this: at Michigan, at Michigan State, Ohio State, at Iowa, Nebraska. You couldn't blame the program for scheduling a couple of cupcakes for the other two 2016 nonconference slots.
