Wisconsin vs. LSU in 2014 and 2016
The details have finally been announced:
http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/08/report-lsu-wisconsin-meet-2014-houston-2016-lambeau-field/
Wisconsin and LSU will play a pseudo "home-and-home," except they will be at close neutral sites instead of Death Valley and Camp Randall. The 2014 game will open the season and will be played at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The 2016 season will open at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. This should be an exciting series assuming Gary Andersen continues the train of success that Wisconsin has had over the last two decades or so.
At last, an admission that "neutral" sites aren't always so neutral.
I think this is a great idea, even if the game at Lamborghini Field isn't in cold weather. It gives basically home fans a chance to enjoy a different venue and influence the game, while giving teams with hopes of significant success a game that isn't a total, dangerous road matchup.
A pity Wisconsin is going to be terrible in three years.
9/3 LSU at Green Bay
9/10 at Virginia Tech (although this is supposedly being pushed back to another year per Twitter)
9/17 TBA/Bye
9/24 TBA/Bye
10/1 at Michigan
10/8 at Michigan State
10/15 Ohio State
10/22 at Iowa
10/29 Nebraska
11/5 Northwestern
11/12 Illinois
11/19 at Purdue
11/26 Minnesota
If Virginia Tech stays on the schedule, that will be a brutal OOC schedule combined with a brutal conference schedule: at Michigan, at Michigan State, Ohio State for the crossovers immediately followed by a string of at Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern. Good luck Wisconsin! For your sake, I hope you're still good in a few years.
The Milwaukee J-S is reporting the VA Tech game has been pushed back to 2019/20. Interestingly, that's the second time that home and home's been pushed back, as it was originally supposed to happen in 2008-9.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/218853401.html
Edit: Apparently it was first pushed back because Bielma was worried about playing both Va Tech and ... Fresno State in the same season. I'm going to go ahead right now and assume that Arkansas's going to cancel out of the planned series with Michigan later in the decade.
After the contract was inked but before the Badgers' home-and-home was completed, a handful of wealthy Wisconsin alums tried to bribe the Fresno St. Bulldogs to give up their "home" part of the series and play that game at Lambeau. It would have meant one game at Camp Randall, and one game at Green Bay if Fresno State had agreed. They were offered low seven figures in cash. Fresno State turned them down.
I was going to say that the Badgers' season ticket holders should be thrilled with their 2016 schedule. But unless they all get equivalent seats at Lambeau, for similar prices (I doubt it), they won't get any real benefit.
I'll be honest; when I saw the thread title, I thought, "Damn; Wisconsin is showing us the way!" But neutral field games have almost zero interest for me. When Michigan plays home games, I want them at home with 110,000 of my closest personal friends. And when we go on the road, I want to go to great places. Austin. Baton Rouge. Los Angeles. Palo Alto. New Haven (lulz).
Please, Mr. Brandon. No more NFL stadiums. Fewer gimmicks. More great opponents. Please.
i don't get why they have neutral sites if it's "home and home". i get it for a one-and-done like us and alabama last year. is there significantly more money this way? am i missing something? as a fan i'd much rather have a game on campus...better atmosphere..especially as a season opener.
There are a number of possible reasons. Perhaps Houston wanted to secure an LSU game, perhaps LSU wanted to play a home-and-home but Wisconsin didn't want to play at Death Valley (or vice versa). Perhaps both teams just thought this would be a great experience.
Naturally a genuine home-and-home would be great, but given the push for neutral sites and the challenge of getting good teams to come to your home, this seems like a great compromise idea.
with Arkansas scheduled?
I'm a little surprised they didn't choose Milwaukee instead of Green Bay. Closer to Bucky's campus and convenient to fly into/out of.
I wouldn't want to watch a game in Milwaukee. They haven't played football in Milwaukee since County Stadium (Brewers old home) was torn down, back when the Packers would play a handful of games in Milwaukee and Green Bay each year. Lambeau and Camp Randall are the two stadia in Wisconsin. Wisconsin-Whitewater is probably the next best since it's home to a perennial DIII powerhouse. The football scene in Milwaukee just doesn't exist.
Well, NOLA.com had some quotes on this from Wisconsin HC Gary Andersen:
"So, it's two tremendous conferences facing off against each other in a big time game early in the year...It'll be a highly competitive game in a national spotlight, and that's why kids play the game. It's why we coach. When you're at a school like the University of Wisconsin you want to be on the highest stage and play the best of the best. It'll also help us in recruiting young men, especially and potentially in the south."
If everything works out apparently, that means that the Badgers' openers for three consecutive years would be LSU, Alabama, and LSU again. Yikes.
I'm confused...an SEC team is going to head north? Do their compasses even contain the letter "N"?
Alabama compass contains an "N". They played Penn State a few years back in Beaver Stadium. However, they seem to be the only team willing to go up north. Good to see they are leading by example and LSU is following...
Why would LSU agree to play in Houston? Simple. Recruiting.
It's the NCAA Hockey Regionals of football scheduling!
Nah. There are plenty of fans and they will actually go. Wisconsin playing LSU at McMahon Stadium in Calgary would be the football equivalent of NCAA hockey regional scheduling.
Edit: Revised my opening word to make it sound less dismissive of Bando, with whose opinion of the absurdity of NCAA hockey regionals I am in agreement.
For those who have watched Wisconsin's non conf schedule the past 10+ years this is indeed mind blowing. They probably scheduled more patsies than anyone else, and that says a lot as the BCS era unfortunately led to fear of losing even one game and a lot of awful non conf games. I truly hope strength of schedule is VERY important in the new system and these non conf crossovers among major conferences become normal again. I also dislike the neutral field - I mean if you are a kid at Wisconsin don't you want to go to Death Valley? And whatever you think of Wiscy , they have a very cool on campus experience on football day (plus Madison is a great town). I get the NCAA is basically Triple AAA football now (semi pro league) but this move to "neutral" sites is something I am not enjoying. Maybe if the 2 teams only agree to play once I can get it, but "home and home" should be played on campus.
Still don't prove a thing. Traveling to Lambeau in September is much different than in November. All SEC teams are a bunch of pussies. They know they would get SMOKED if they tried to come north in the cold and try and play MANBALL.
August 8th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
Still would love to see an SEC team make its way up here in November one day. I have no doubt Saban would do it if he had the chance. He seems to be the only coach in the SEC that has the "anyone, anywhere, anytime" mindset.
Lambeau would be awesome if only it was a November game. It'll still be cool, but I still dream of the day I see a SEC team play a Big Ten team up north in the snow