LSU vs. Wisconsin on The Frozen Tundra? There’s a small possibility that could happen as the Journal Sentinel reports that Wisconsin is looking to play a game at Lambeau Field with LSU as the opponent.
Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has been trying to upgrade his team’s non-conference schedules for the upcoming College Football Playoff. He accomplished that for the 2015 season by agreeing to a neutral-site game against Alabama at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Now he’s trying to lure an SEC team up North to play in the home of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. When and if that will happen remains to be seen, and UW declined the Journal Sentinel’s request for comment on Friday.
One thing that is for certain is that Lambeau Field is interested in hosting a college football game.
“It has come up from time to time and it is something that we are pursuing,” Green Bay director of public affairs Aaron Popkey told the Journal Sentinel. “But it hasn’t gotten to the point where there is anything on the books or where we’re ready to announce.
“We continue to look into it and will certainly explore those opportunities.”
Only two college football games have ever been played on The Frozen Tundra. In 1982 and 1983, Fordham faced Saint Norbert (WI) in Vince Lombardi Memorial football games to “raise money for the Lombardi Colon Clinic at the Medical College of Wisconsin.”
LSU has not commented on the rumored possibility of a game at Lambeau. It’s also not clear if the Tigers would even want to play a non-conference game that far North without a return game.
A closer venue that LSU might take advantage of in the future is Houston’s Reliant Stadium. It’s only four hours away and would likely give LSU the home field advantage over many, if not all, the Big Ten teams.
Regardless of where the game is played, LSU is in dire need of a prominent, BCS caliber non-conference opponent in 2014. The Tigers are currently scheduled to face ULM the second week of the season and later host Georgia Southern and New Mexico State.
LSU and Wisconsin’s only two previous meetings came in a home-and-home series back in 1971 and 1972. The Tigers were victorious in both games, winning 38-28 in Madison and 27-7 in Baton Rouge.
Update (5/1/13)
LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said over the weekend that the Tigers are in the “preliminary stages” of talks with Wisconsin.
“The novelty of playing at Lambeau is great, but there’s a whole lot of things to weigh,” Alleva said. “The financial things. We’ll see.”
Alleva also said the two schools discussed a neutral site series with one game at Lambeau Field and the other at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
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