The Wisconsin Badgers have made a change to their 2026 football schedule, replacing a previously scheduled ACC opponent with a team from the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the school announced Friday.
Wisconsin was previously scheduled to host the Pitt Panthers at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisc., on Sept. 19, 2026. The game was originally part of a home-and-home football series, but the second game of the contest scheduled to be played in Pittsburgh in 2027 was moved to Dublin, Ireland.
As a result, Wisconsin and Pitt have decided to mutually cancel the 2026 contest and will only play the single neutral site game, which is now the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. That game is slated for Saturday, Aug. 28, 2027, which is Week Zero that season.
To replace the Pitt contest, Wisconsin has added a home game against the Eastern Michigan Eagles (EMU) of the MAC on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Eastern Michigan University is winless in four previous trips to Madison.
Eastern Michigan previously had a full non-conference schedule for the 2026 season. In order to schedule the game at Wisconsin, the Eagles rescheduled a contest at Marshall in 2026 and will now travel to Huntington, W.Va., on Sept. 20, 2031.
Additionally, Eastern Michigan pushed its 2026 home game against the Lindenwood Lions back one week from Sept. 19 to Sept. 26.
Wisconsin is scheduled to open the 2026 season against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc., on Sunday, Sept. 6. The following week on Saturday, Sept. 12, the Badgers will host the Western Illinois Leathernecks in Madison.
The Big Ten slate of opponents for Wisconsin in 2026 is also set, with dates to be revealed possibly later this month. Wisconsin will host Michigan State, Minnesota, Rutgers, and USC and will travel to take on Iowa, Maryland, Penn State, Purdue, and UCLA.
UPDATE (DEC. 10, 2025)
Wisconsin will pay Eastern Michigan a $1.4 million guarantee for the game in 2026, according to a copy of the contract obtained from Eastern Michigan University via a public records request.
Football Schedules
Fan of Big Ten vs MAC cupcakes games again pardon for using Fan on this post.
Pretty weak to pull this garbage nine months before the season starts, leaving Pitt to scramble to fill the opening. No Backyard Brawl in 2026, so now Pitt is left without a P4 OOC game. I wish we’d go back to eight conference games, but that horse has left the barn.
These things don’t happen in a vacuum. It was mutual so Pitt probably has something lined up. And they do have UCF on the schedule, which is P4 now.
https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/pitt/
To the surprise of nobody
Everything works out fine Pitt gets to schedule their I-AA game and so does Marshall so everything is fine on that front and like Kevin said when these are announced it’s like the last step because the schools have figured it all out
Kevin explained it well. Pitt is happy with this because they’re going to 9 conference games so they’re OK with only 1 P4 OOC game (UCF) in 2026. Pitt isn’t scrambling.
Also there is a very good chance that the Pitt/Ole Miss deal will get finalized very soon now.
Ole Miss is rumored for 2026
Ole Miss vs Pitt is rumored for 2026. And Pitt has a 2026 home game vs UCF. Also many ACC programs will be canceling future OOC games so don’t be too upset.
@Ryan Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) is fka Division I-AA
@Richard Doubtful the ACC goes to a 9-game conference schedule until 2027.
I actually forgot UCF was P4 now. My bad.
Happens to us all…
It’s Okay Gerry.
Call this Operation Save Luke Fickell.
TBF, Bucky had played one of the toughest schedules in the country this season and last.